20.09.2013 Disputes Between Rroma and Residents in Salzburg

Clashes between local residents and travelling Rroma in Anthering (Flachgau) and Bischofshofen (Pongau) generated resentment in Austria and encourage the uncritical reproduction of distorted perceptions about Rroma. In Bischofshofen, young people organised via Facebook and subsequently visited travelling Rroma and provoked and insulted them. Police prevented further escalations. A few days earlier in Anthering a farmer tried to chase illegally camping Rroma by splashing them with manure (The Press, 2013). Once more, specific cases become precedents that are applied to Rroma as a whole. Most Rroma are not travellers at all and never were involved in any many illegal activities. Reporting such incidents is part of a tradition of one-sided coverage of Rroma: These reports are in many cases related to crimes or other negative events, which has led to the entrenchment of a negative public image. The proposal by the Greens immigration responsible Martina Berthold to provide an available camping spot for travelling met with strong criticism. There is no real need for it. That the article promotes racist attitudes towards Rroma can be inferred from the comment column. It reads as: “That the R & S [Rroma and Sinti] settlements in Hungary are located several kilometres away from the urban areas has reasons – ask the Hungarians why this is so. And remarkably – this is not new, this is older than the Nazis, but it has apparently proven to work. And proven things you should not be given up!” (Salzburg_24 2013).