Supporters demonstrate in Nice court, for hearing of French volunteer who transported migrants

Record ID: 77680

  • Title: Supporters demonstrate in Nice court, for hearing of French volunteer who transported migrants
  • Date: 23rd November 2016
  • Summary: NICE, FRANCE (NOVEMBER 23, 2016) (REUTERS) PROTESTERS SUPPORTING FRENCH FARMER AND VOLUNTEER WHO HELPED MIGRANTS CROSS THE FRENCH-ITALIAN BORDER, CEDRIC HERROU / BANNER READING (French): "Yes to solidarity and welcoming migrants and refugees" VARIOUS OF HERROU GREETING SUPPORTERS VARIOUS OF PEOPLE GATHERED OUTSIDE NICE COURTHOUSE IN SUPPORT OF HERROU (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH FARMER AND VOLUNTEER WHO HELPED MIGRANTS CROSS THE FRENCH-ITALIAN BORDER, CEDRIC HERROU, SAYING: "I did what I had to do, my duty as a French citizen, to provide help to young people. What we hope is that it's heard by the legal system, and heard by public authorities." PEOPLE GATHERED OUTSIDE COURTHOUSE (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH FARMER AND VOLUNTEER WHO HELPED MIGRANTS CROSS THE FRENCH-ITALIAN BORDER, CEDRIC HERROU, SAYING: "Helping people in danger is a duty, it's not a right, it's a duty. And I don't think I will be found guilty because the legal system is fair and independent, in spite of all the political pressures there are against me and against our actions. I think the legal system will be independent of all that." SUPPORTER HOLDING SIGN READING (French): "No crime for the helpers, beds for the migrants" HERROU GREETING PARIS MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR THE ECOLOGY PARTY, CECILE DUFLOT DUFLOT TALKING TO MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (French) PARIS MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR THE ECOLOGY PARTY, CECILE DUFLOT, SAYING: "If young girls, very young girls like those helped by (French volunteer) Pierre-Alain Mannoni, were on the road, injured, hungry, in the night - would you accept for them to be left alone? That would be failing to assist a person in danger. And they find themselves here at the court, it's not acceptable and it's above all the moment to show that there are lots of generous people in this country, lots of generous people in the Roya valley, lots of generous people around Nice who look after these refugees, who are there." VARIOUS OF HERROU PASSING THROUGH SECURITY AT COURTHOUSE FRENCH VOLUNTEER WHO HELPED MIGRANTS, PIERRE-ALAIN MANNONI, AT COURT / HERROU WALKING VARIOUS OF HERROU WALKING INTO COURTROOM
  • Embargoed: 8th December 2016 16:12
  • Keywords: France migrants refugees Nice Italy
  • Location: NICE, FRANCE
  • City: NICE, FRANCE
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA00159O272F
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Supporters gathered outside Nice's courthouse on Wednesday (November 23) as the hearing of French volunteer Cedric Herrou, who transported migrants across the French-Italian border, got underway.
    Herrou may face five years in prison and a 30,000 euro fine if found guilty of the charge of aiding the unauthorised entry, transit and stay of illegal migrants.
    In a French valley surrounded by Italian territory, the 37-year-old egg farmer and a team of volunteers helped transport migrants from his home in Breil-sur-Roya, across the Italian border and back into France, taking routes typically neglected by border police.
    "I did what I had to do, my duty as a French citizen, to provide help to young people. What we hope is that it's heard by the legal system, and heard by public authorities," Herrou told reporters outside the court.
    Growing numbers of migrants had been gathering at the frontier between Italy's Ventimiglia and France's Menton, hoping to travel on to countries such as Britain and Germany.
    Herrou helped migrants on a purely voluntary basis, and accepted no money or anything in return from the migrants, and he especially tried to help the minors among them.
    Another volunteer, Pierre-Alain Mannoni, also attended a court hearing. Mannoni was caught by police transporting migrants, and he wrote in an online blog that his actions were only "human".
    Supporters held banners reading: "Yes to solidarity and welcoming migrants and refugees" and "No crime for the helpers, beds for the migrants", with Paris Member of Parliament Cecile Duflot among those to show solidarity.
    "If young girls, very young girls like those helped by (French volunteer) Pierre-Alain Mannoni, were on the road, injured, hungry, in the night - would you accept for them to be left alone? That would be failing to assist a person in danger. And they find themselves here at the court, it's not acceptable and it's above all the moment to show that there are lots of generous people in this country, lots of generous people in the Roya valley, lots of generous people around Nice who look after these refugees, who are there," the Ecology party politician said.
    The volunteers said it is their role to do something to help the migrants, as Europe struggles to find a coherent response to deal with the thousands of migrants arriving on its shores.
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