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dpa
Paris
After a baker in France went on hunger strike to protest the deportation of his 18-year-old apprentice to Guinea, sparking national attention, the responsible prefecture on Thursday caved and announced the young man would be allowed to stay.
“In view of his exemplary integrative efforts and his prospects of professional integration ... the Prefect of Haute-Saone has decided to revoke the measure taken against him and to grant him a residence permit,” the prefecture said.
Baker Stephane Ravacley had began his strike on January 3 to fight “for the boy to stay in France and get French papers,” he told the online magazine Brut.
He had planned to make it until January 26, when a decision was to be made on the apprentice’s appeal against his deportation. He was facing deportation due to turning 18.
Ravacley had reached day 11 on Thursday when the prefecture prematurely announced its decision.
“The elements originally presented in support of his application were not sufficient to grant his request,” the prefecture now said of the application for a residence permit.
However, the man had now submitted new information that has changed the authority’s assessment, it said.
According to media reports, the prefecture originally believed that the man’s identity documents were not authentic.
Ravacley’s efforts have received the backing of celebrities such as actress Marion Cotillard, and an online petition for the apprentice has been signed more than 240,000 times.
Paris
After a baker in France went on hunger strike to protest the deportation of his 18-year-old apprentice to Guinea, sparking national attention, the responsible prefecture on Thursday caved and announced the young man would be allowed to stay.
“In view of his exemplary integrative efforts and his prospects of professional integration ... the Prefect of Haute-Saone has decided to revoke the measure taken against him and to grant him a residence permit,” the prefecture said.
Baker Stephane Ravacley had began his strike on January 3 to fight “for the boy to stay in France and get French papers,” he told the online magazine Brut.
He had planned to make it until January 26, when a decision was to be made on the apprentice’s appeal against his deportation. He was facing deportation due to turning 18.
Ravacley had reached day 11 on Thursday when the prefecture prematurely announced its decision.
“The elements originally presented in support of his application were not sufficient to grant his request,” the prefecture now said of the application for a residence permit.
However, the man had now submitted new information that has changed the authority’s assessment, it said.
According to media reports, the prefecture originally believed that the man’s identity documents were not authentic.
Ravacley’s efforts have received the backing of celebrities such as actress Marion Cotillard, and an online petition for the apprentice has been signed more than 240,000 times.
