French baker ends hunger strike as apprentice saved from deportation

Stéphane Ravacley, a baker in the town of Besançon in eastern France, began a hunger strike on 3 January to save his Guinean apprentice from deportation. Ravacley's campaign ended in victory as the young man has now been granted a French residence permit.

"Laye has got his papers and he's resuming work on Tuesday!" said baker Stéphane Ravacley who ended his hunger strike on Thursday.

Ravacley went 10 days without eating. After 8 days, he was admitted for a few hours to the emergency room of the hospital in the eastern town of Besançon after collapsing. 

Ravacley has spent more than a year training Laye Fodé Traoré in Besançon since taking him on in September 2019 after he arrived in France as an unaccompanied minor.

But after he turned 18, the young Guinean was informed he faced being sent back to his homeland in West Africa.

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The mayor of Besançon, Anne Vignot, wrote to Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin asking for Traoré to be allowed to stay in France, saying in her letter that "the desire to expel this future baker is incomprehensible".

Traoré also formally appealed against the deportation order.

Ravacley said he was informed by the regional prefecture that the appeal had been successful and said that the young man had "practically wept" on hearing the news.

"It's a great moment, a victory, and now we will fight for others in the same situation," the baker said.

Vignot tweeted on Thursday afternoon that Laye Fodé Traoré had been regularised by the regional prefecture.