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"The police forces had no mercy. We thought they were humane
people," he said on Tuesday night near a railway station in
Paris where charities were distributing food. "They are not like
that at all."
Khademi was among dozens of migrants and asylum seekers who had
pitched pop-up tents on a central square in the city in an
organised protest intended to attract attention to their
precarious living conditions.
Police in riot gear moved in to disperse the protest on Monday
night. Officers tussled with protesters as they tried to drag
them out of the tents.
Interior Minister Gerard Darmanin said some of the scenes were
"shocking" and that officers who behaved unacceptably would be
punished. Officials said though the protest was illegal so
police were within their rights to disperse it.
Khademi, 27, said he was inside his tent when the police arrived
and beat him with batons. He escaped, but said he left his
belongings inside the tent, so now he had nothing.
From Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan, he said he
travelled through Pakistan, Iran, and the Balkans to reach
France. He previously stayed at a migrant camp on the edge of
Paris, but that was dispersed last week.
Now, he said, he moves around the streets looking for a place to
bed down. Many ordinary French people were supportive, he said,
but the police were hostile.
"I thought that France was a good place and that its people are
European, and that's why we came here, but the immigrants were
not well received," he said, speaking in Dari, one of the
languages used in Afghanistan.
"We have no way back; we have to stay here and endure the
situation because we have no other choice."
(Writing by Christian Lowe; editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
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