Romanians compare Sarkozy to WWII dictator

Community leader Iulian Radulescu told a large gathering during an annual Roma festival held near Costesti that "Sarkozy is doing what Antonescu did."

Dictator Ion Antonescu, who ruled Romania during World War II, deported 25,000 Roma people in 1942.

More than 11,000 died from exposure, typhus, starvation and thirst on their way to the Soviet region of Trans Dnieper.

France has sent back about 1,000 Roma to Romania and Bulgaria in recent weeks as part of what Mr Sarkozy has called a "crime-fighting measure."

The increasingly unpopular French president, whose drive to raise the retirement age sparked a general strike and massive street rallies on Tuesday, has repeatedly linked Roma people to rising crime rates.

Mr Sarkozy has described the often unsanitary camps in which some of them live as sources of trafficking, child exploitation and prostitution.

Mr Radulescu called on Roma leaders to try to stop crime within their communities. He said that hundreds of innocent Roma people are paying the price "for the crimes of the few.

"It is not right to be expelled if you are a law-abiding citizen," he stressed.

Fellow Roma leader Florin Cioaba added: "There is one set of laws for European citizens and different laws for the Roma."

There are between 10 million and 12 million Roma people in the EU, most getting by in dire circumstances, victims of poverty, discrimination, violence, unemployment and substandard housing. An estimated 1.5 million of them live in Romania.

Paris's decision to expel Roma people en masse has been criticised by opposition parties, the UN and the Roman Catholic church and even some members of Mr Sarkozy's right-wing government.

The issue will top the agenda of planned talks today between French Immigration Minister Eric Besson and the visiting Minister for European Affairs Pierre Lelouche.

European Union fundamental rights commissioner Viviane Reding have vowed that Brussels will challenge the Sarkozy administration if there is "solid proof" that it violated EU law.