The Ghanaian community in France has not recorded any physical injuries among its members amid recent unrest in the European country, the President of the Ghanaian Community in France Council, Michael Osei-Mensah, has said.
He said community leaders had checked reports from Ghanaian groups across France and had not received information about any members being physically affected by the disturbances.
“We have not heard about any Ghanaian who has been affected physically by what has happened,” Osei-Mensah said on the Asaase Breakfast Show on Monday (19 October).
According to him, students had raised concerns about inadequate infrastructure, shortages of teachers and barriers within the school placement system, prompting demonstrations to draw the government’s attention to their demands.
However, he said some individuals had taken advantage of the protests to loot and damage public structures and monuments, diverting attention from the students’ original concerns.
“The good message that the students wanted to take across” had been overshadowed by the violence, he said.
Osei-Mensah estimated that the Ghanaian population in France, including people born in Ghana and their descendants born and raised in France, was close to 100,000.
He said Ghanaians were not the target of the unrest because the demonstrations were primarily intended to communicate grievances over education to the French government.
He nevertheless acknowledged that Ghanaian students could be indirectly affected if the disturbances continued to disrupt education and undermine efforts to address the concerns that prompted the demonstrations.
Osei-Mensah said the French president had addressed the nation on television about measures to contain the unrest, adding that the development had provided some reassurance.
He also alleged that some political groups were exploiting the situation to gain political advantage ahead of the next French presidential election, although he provided no evidence to substantiate the claim.
Beyond the unrest, Mr Osei-Mensah said the Ghanaian community was also feeling the effects of rising living costs in France, which he linked partly to higher fuel prices amid disruptions to global energy supplies.
He called for calm and said the community was praying for France and its leaders to resolve the situation.
In a message to Ghanaians and French residents, he said members of the Ghanaian community remained safe and urged people to remain calm as the situation unfolded.
