VENISSIEUX, France, April 26 (UPI) -- A 72-year-old woman hanged herself in her apartment in Venissieux, France, after she was threatened with eviction, the town's mayor said.
The unidentified woman's body was found Thursday in her apartment in the town near Lyon. Officials had since learned she faced repeated threats of eviction in recent months, the French news website The Local reported Friday.
"I'm angry because I have opposed these types of forced evictions, which are dangerous. What kind of society could allow women and men to die amid almost total indifference," said Venissieux Mayor Michele Picard.
A court ordered the woman's removal from her home in 2011. Officials claim to have offered her other accommodation, including a place in the same apartment block, but she rejected them, the newspaper Le Parisien reported.
Picard said she also attempted to intervene on the woman's behalf, but said in her "fragile and isolated state," the tenant didn't attend a meeting in February to discuss her situation.
The woman became withdrawn and didn't reply to letters of telephone calls from authorities or social services, Le Parisien said.
