FRANCE: More than 5,000 people marched through Paris yesterday to protest a tough immigration Bill that critics say will favour only skilled immigrants.
France's leading Catholic prelate, who met with Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, said the government may soften the Bill when the parliamentary debate on it starts on Tuesday.
"There is a balance to be found between irresponsible laxness and a nearly xenophobic firmness," said Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard after a meeting with Mr Villepin also attended by the head of France's Protestants, Jean-Arnold de Clermont.
In their meeting with the prime minister, the two church leaders "expressed a certain number of . . . questions on precise points", and Mr Villepin "stressed that some of the remarks could be taken into account" during the debate, Cardinal Ricard said. "I think some amendments will be filed during the debate."
Meanwhile, some 5,200 people marched through Paris to protest the Bill which proposes that France choose its immigrants - those with particular skills - and toughens conditions under which immigrants can bring their families to France.
About four dozen illegal immigrants occupied Sainte Chapelle, a chapel famed for its stained glass windows on the grounds of the Palais de Justice, before being evacuated by police.
Cardinal Ricard said he was given assurances that, should a political asylum request be refused, the time limit to file an appeal could be extended from the 15 days currently in the Bill.
He made no mention of critics' primary concern with the Bill, that it would allow France to hand-pick its immigrants.
Many on the left accuse interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy of courting far-right voters. However, the interior minister responded by saying that hand-picking immigrants will help fight racism and the far right - by ensuring immigrants are better integrated.