TWENTY alleged vigilantes have been arrested for a series of attacks on Roma in Paris following online rumours that they were kidnapping children.

Mobs armed with baseball bats, kitchen knives and other improvised weapons have been approaching camps full of members of the travelling communities in suburbs of the French capital.

The worst incidents so far took place late on Monday night in Clichy-sous-Bois, Bobigny and Colombes.

“Caravans and white vans used by Roma communities have been targeted, with individuals attacked,” said an investigating source.

“The alleged justification for the attacks has been internet rumours that Roma gangs are abducting local children."

Posts have appeared on social media sites such as Facebook and the Snapchat messaging service.

That prompted a police spokesman in Seine-Saint-Denis urging people to be “careful because there’s a psychosis starting to set in”.

In a statement the force said: “Rumors about a white van being used to kidnap children are completely unfounded.

“No abductions have been proven. Do not share this false information, do not incite violence.”

No abductions have been proven. Do not share this false information, do not incite violence

Officers confirmed that 20 suspected vigilantes were currently in custody in connection with anti-Roma violence, and that three people had so far been charged with violent order offences.

The white van rumour has been variously described as an urban myth or “fake news”.

But it also reflects deep prejudice against Roma communities in France, most of which come from Bulgaria and Romania.

French Interior Ministers and Prime Ministers have regularly called from the them to be deported, but this has proved impossible because most have EU passports.

False messages spread on social media have been blamed for mob violence in other parts of the world.

In Mexico a lynch mob dragged two men out of police station, savagely beat them and then set them on fire after a false rumour was spread on WhatsApp about them being child kidnappers.

A lynch mob in India also beat two men to death after WhatsApp rumours claimed they were child snatchers.

Rumours of child kidnappings are spreading across India over WhatsApp, and have already led to the several other deaths.

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