Under the Eiffel Tower, a woman asks if I speak English. She tells stories of sick relatives, the threat of debt-collectors. After the innocence, the hard sell: a hand outstretched for change. Though the stories may be false, the poverty is real, and her children are thin.

The tourists hold tightly to their wallets; the woman is largely ignored, and resentment grows between the rich and the Roms (The French Roma community).

The Roma Community in France is frequently labelled ‘the Rom problem’, with heavy-handed policing the most popular solution. Only last week, Romany schoolgirl Leonardi Dibrani was arrested in front of her classmates, sparking student protests across Paris. Despite a Presidential pardon, she still remains in Kosovo, where her family claim that they have been assaulted.

Racism is rife and the government that purports to represent its people ignores and oppresses the Roma population. For many in France the Roma are undesirable. It is not only petty crime that they have become associated with, but also violent assault. Every Parisian has his story. Verbal abuse is a rite of passage, physical abuse a badge of honour. A Rom once asked me for a light and spat at me when I refused, a friend remembers, proudly.

The idea that the Roma are pushed towards crime by circumstance is given little credence, but the poverty is abject and the richest streets of Paris house its poorest residents. On the Boulevard Saint-Michel, the crowds part about a child in the road. Unwashed and underfed, he is suspected of pickpocketing. Away from the Eiffel Tower, a woman begs by a cash-point. The slick, chic Parisians pass and few have time or money. By the Boulevard Saint-Germain, the children of Roma families urinate across from the expensive boutiques. And on the Champs Elysées, men pray on the paving. Their clothes are torn and a veil drawn over their faces. They are treated with an uneasy respect; widely considered ‘unpredictable’, they offer a cup of coins and do not look up.

It is not naive to expect a country that spends ten billion Euros on job creation to provide work and support for those least fortunate in its society. Nor is it is idealistic to expect France to cater for all of its residents, without resorting to allegations of illegal immigration.

Despite this, decades of xenophobia continue to influence governmental decisions. Former President Sarkozy expelled large numbers of Roma from France in a move branded “discriminatory” by the European Court of Human Rights. Rarely is the root cause of poverty addressed, whether in public, or in politics. The Socialists may open their mouths to protest, but they are the quietest of them all.

As I walk by the Seine, a Rom asks for change.

But I’ve been in Paris long enough, and I refuse. The street titters as the woman shouts abuse. Her intention is clear, if the words aren’t, and at last I have a story to tell.