PARIS, February 27 — A demonstration of 7,000 people demanded the abolition of the Ministry of Immigration and National Identity and the “legalization” of all undocumented workers. They linked France’s treatment of undocumented workers to its history as an imperialist colonial power. They chanted “Besson, Sarkozy, it’s over, the time of colonies.” Besson is the minister of immigration and “national identity”; Sarkozy is the president of France. Eighty-five organizations supported the march to the Immigration Ministry building.

The demonstration was part of the “anti-colonial week,” February 19 to 28. Patrick Farbiaz, one of the organizers, declared, “We would like to show that there is a link between the colonialism of yesterday and that of today in the way that the descendants of immigrants and undocumented immigrants are treated.”