PARIS - A protest against violence targeting the Chinese community in Paris ended on Sunday with demonstrators being tear-gassed by police.

About 8,500 people turned out on the streets of city's eastern Belleville district, where they called for "coordinated and concerted" action by the authorities against a growing number of attacks.

Trouble broke out as the demonstration was ending when scuffles erupted between a group of around a dozen youths and 50 young demonstrators, police said.

According to multiple witnesses, trouble started when a bag belonging to one of the demonstrators was stolen. Police intervened and said three people were arrested.

Police tear-gassed the crowd after objects were thrown at them, prompting demonstrators to overturn cars and block traffic in the area for several hours.

Belleville is an ethnically diverse district of the French capital that has seen an influx of Asian immigrants in the last 10 years.

According to organizers from French-Chinese organizations, who distributed 5,000 T-shirts and stickers saying "Security For All", it was the largest demonstration by the Chinese community on record in France.

"French-Asian associations are marching for the first time against the lack of security," said the president of the organizers, Chan Sing Mo. "If the problem continues, we'll come out again in larger numbers."

In the last few months, Chinese in the French capital have been subjected to attacks and violent robberies by youths in Belleville and other parts of eastern Paris, and many feel at a disadvantage as immigrants.

"Those who can't speak French or don't have proper papers are not able to complain," a florist in Belleville said.

Agence France-Presse

(China Daily 06/22/2010 page24)