Fuming neighbours have accused Paris of being heavy-handed and undemocratic and say they were never asked by authorities whether they wanted refugees in their community. Some 50 migrants have been re-homed in the small village of Allex, in the south-western province of Rhone-Alpes, which has a population of around 2,500 people.

FranceTVinfo Villagers in France are calling for a referendum on migration

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But their arrival has sparked deep divisions in the tiny countryside community, with angry locals marching on the mayor's office demanding that they be removed. Villagers in particular fear that their village could become "lawless" like Calais, where police confronted by more than 9,000 migrants have totally lost control of the port town.

FranceTVinfo There is now a heavy police presence in the village of Allex

FranceTVinfo Villagers are furious that they weren't asked about re-homing refugees

Armed police have been stationed outside the refugees' housing and the local mayor says the situation is now so "explosive" that he has decided to call a referendum so residents can vote on their futures. However, many in the village have now launched their own campaign to get the vote legally recognised by the government in Paris, arguing that the re-homing of the migrants was undemocratically imposed against their will. An online pressure group has been set up to put their case and they are now urging towns, villages and cities across the country to hold their own referenda on housing migrants. If successful they would make it virtually impossible for the government in Paris to redistribute recently arrived refugees across the country, bringing France's asylum system to its knees.

FranceTVinfo Villagers marched to the mayor's office in protest

FranceTVinfo The mayor has agreed to hold the referendum under intense public pressure

We have rights as French citizens and we want them to be respected Villagers' Facebook group

Posting on Facebook the group of villagers accused Francois Hollande's administration of showing a lack of respect for local communities. They wrote: "We must have a referendum recognised in the eyes of the state. Allex will not suffer from decisions imposed by the state. "We must mobilise the world. We invite any municipality with the same problems to do something similar. “This is a national cause.” Referring to the recent protest, they added: "The tensions would surely not be as strong if the population of Allex had been consulted earlier. "The French people should have had the right to say yes or no to such decisions. "We have rights as French citizens and we want them to be respected."

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