Paris: French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday slammed the brutal assault of a Roma teenager in a poor Paris suburb as an "unspeakable and unjustifiable" act.
In a statement issued by the presidency, he asked "that everything be done to find those responsible for this attack" that left the 16-year-old, who is accused of burglary, fighting for his life.
Prime Minister Manuel Valls joined Hollande in condemning the assault on the teen, who was found Friday evening in a supermarket trolley after being beaten by a dozen residents of a housing estate in Pierrefitte-sur-Seine north of Paris.
The teenager, who lived with his family and other Roma in a squalid camp sprung up around an abandoned house, was accused of breaking into an apartment in the estate just hours earlier.
"A group of several people came to find him and take him away by force," a police source said Monday, adding the boy was then locked in a basement where he was violently beaten.
