French police are questioning witnesses in the brutal attack on a Roma teen that left the boy bleeding, unconscious, and left for dead in a grocery cart by the side of a highway.  It’s part of what anti-discrimination groups in France call an overall rise in attacks on Roma and other minorities.

Official indignation reached all the way to the top, with President Francois Hollande calling the attack, “an offense against the founding principles of our country.”

Police say a dozen or so young people went to the Roma camp in Pierrefitte-sur-Seine, a grim suburb north of Paris’ city center plagued with high unemployment.  They seized the boy, who is believed to be about 16 years old, dragged him off to a public housing project called “City of Poets”.  The attackers beat the kid unconscious, and stuffed him into a shopping cart that was wheeled to the roadside and abandoned.  Apparently, the attack followed a string of burglaries in the area, and some blamed the Roma.

But human rights groups say the attack is just as much a product of the French government’s alleged discrimination against the Roma.  Amnesty International reports that 20,000 Roma families were expelled from illegal camps just in 2013. These camps are improvised on vacant lots and road sides, lacking electricity, running water, and sewers.  Another wave of expulsions is expected to begin soon.

“The fact that they live in camps and then they’re left without shelter, that leaves them more vulnerable and more exposed to violence,” said Amnesty International’s Julie Hesloin.  “There have been elections and new mayors elected who campaigned on expulsions.”

After the attack, most residents of the victim’s Roma camp packed up and moved on.