BREAKING NEWS

French oppose softer rules on refugee status, favor Syria strikes

PARIS - A majority of French people are against softening rules to access refugee status, a poll showed on Sunday even as thousands poured to the streets to show their solidarity with migrants seeking asylum in Europe.
Around 8,500 people marched in Paris on Saturday carrying banners such as "Refugees welcome". Other demonstrations took place in several cities across the country.
But a poll conducted by Odoxa for Le Parisien-Aujourd'hui en France daily showed 55 percent of the 1,000 people surveyed were opposed to an easing of rules for migrants asking for refugee status, including Syrians fleeing civil war.
Thirty-three percent thought France was less hospitable to war refugees than Germany, which opened its door to several hundred thousands of migrants in the last months, while 44 percent thought they are on the same line.