05.09.2014 Stereotypes: foreign travelling Rroma as asocial groups

Wissmann (2014) reports on problems with foreign travelling Rroma in Biel. A group of foreign travellers – most of them are Rroma, the author claims – have repeatedly and illegally occupied private grounds and properties. André Glauser, head of the city department of security, speaks of 20 to 30 groups of foreign travellers that stop in Biel every year. Although has Glauser points out that not all groups create problems, the statement of a “problem case with foreign travellers” remains: “For nearly two weeks now, the travellers have been playing a cat-and-mouse game with the city and private landowners. Meanwhile, they have already illegally occupied the sixth terrain. Again and again, they were asked to leave the grounds. But instead of leaving Biel, they just occupied a different site – parking spaces, premises, construction sites or road edges. At one site, according to Glauser, they even stopped passing vehicles for begging, which led to complaints. However, the city security chief does not want to generalise. There are groups that don’t create any problems, he states. Others, however, made the telephone lines of the police run hot. Residents and traders complained about waste, faeces or about the behaviour of the travellers. The former Bieler councilman and present FDP-great councillor Hubert Klopfenstein also speaks of an “unfortunately detectable increase in petty crime.”” The focus of the press and informants presented here is on extreme problem cases. They are not representative of all Rroma. Rather, it is a minority of the minority that stands out negatively. The arguments between Yeniche and Rroma due to permanent and transit sites, which are also implied in this article, are a Swiss nationwide problem, due to the fact that by far, there are not enough sites for all travellers. Due to the presence of foreign travellers this problem is exacerbated and the competition discharges in the over-emphasis of ethnic and national differences. Most Rroma are sedentary anyway and not travellers. The cited FDP-great councillor Hubert Klopfenstein is therefore to agree with when he demands that the federal government must take care of the lack of transit sites. But also the journalists and politicians are challenged: they shouldn’t hastily assimilate problem cases of minorities’ members to a matter of ethnicity.