Tag Archives: Attacks

Racism against Roma in Germany

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Attacks against Sinti and Roma have increased in Germany. Last year, the authorities registered a total of 145 crimes against Sinti and Roma – the highest number in six years. This emerges from the response of the Federal Ministry of the Interior to a request from the left-wing faction.

Bad.

Hanau – Three years Ago

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Three years after the racist attack in Hanau, Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth (Greens) spoke of a “shock for all of us” that is still having an effect today. The suffering of the victims and their grieving relatives must be given more attention in our remembrance, she demanded on Sunday – exactly three years after the attack. Other top politicians and the evangelical church also commemorated the victims.

French Chronicle …

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Quite a few news and articles about Roma in France this week. It all starts with the destruction of a Roma camp in Villeron (Val d’Oise) near Paris by local residents. The town’s mayor participated in this de-facto pogrom and is now under investigation. It is sad, and it is also the reflection of a total failure of the French state. These shantytowns lodge less than 20’000 people. They have, for the most part, been in France for 20 years. And the sate failed in their integration.

The other big news is that of a French senator for the centre right stating that the deputies of the LFI (La France Insoumise – Leftist party) are transforming the National Assembly in a “Gypsy camp”. Several associations have requested he excuses himself and have complained about the systemic racism against Roma in France.

A bad week …

Police Brutality in Košice

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The very long story of the police brutality against Roma in Košice which started in 2009 and saw Roma who had sued the police being brought to court is finally coming to an end. The European Court of Human Rights who had condemned Slovakia in the process awarded 20’000 EUR to each of the Roma.

At long last!

Serbia, Police, and Roma

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The European Roma Right Centre and the Vojvoðanski romski centar are taking legal action against the Serbian police for having invaded a Roma home and brutally attacked the Roma.

Let’s see what comes out of it…

Ukraine: Suspended Sentence

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The Sykhiv District Court of Lviv sentenced one of the perpetrators who, together with accomplices, attacked a Roma camp in 2018. The attack occurred in June 2018 when seven people attacked the Roma camp, which was located in a forest strip on the outskirts of Lviv.  As a result of the attack, one person died, and four others were injured. The attackers prepared the attack in advance. They bought masks and armed themselves with knives, metal pipes, wooden sticks, chains and hammers.

The man was found guilty of hooliganism and sentenced to 5 years in prison. However, he was released from serving a probationary sentence, having been placed on probation for 2 years.

Really? For premeditated murder?

Extremism and Attacks Against Roma

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The most frequent victims of extremist attacks in the physical world in 2020 and 2021 were members of the Roma ethnic group. This is stated in the Monitoring Report on the State of Extremism in the Slovak Republic for the period of 2020 and 2021 and the update of the tasks of the Concept of Combating Radicalization and Extremism until 2024.

The material states that right-wing extremism is the most dominant form of extremism on the territory of the Slovak Republic, while it represents on average up to 97.4 percent of all cases of criminal prosecution for crimes of extremism.

The international Engage project consisting of a team of social psychologists from the Slovak Academy of Sciences and experts from partner organizations from Hungary and Spain presented ways to better the attitudes of the majority towards the Roma. In this regard, they recommend expanding mutual contact between the Roma and non-Roma populations.

Slovakia – Attacks

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Many years have passed since the terrifying attacks on Roma families in the settlement in Záhorská Ves. From 2003 to 2007, unknown masked criminals attacked the local Roma with sticks several times and even set fire to the house where they lived. Well, on the morning of Monday, September 26, 2022, the case took a major turn. Elite NAKA policemen detained members of the criminal group of the takáčov gang, after which horrifying information about years of unexplained attacks on Roma in Záhorská Ves came to light. NAKA accused the mayor Boris Šimkovič and the boss of the takáčovci gsng, Ivan Mego. After the intervention of NAKA, 19 people are accused and 9 detained.

Roma Murders in Hungary

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13 years after the facts, the leader of the extreme right group which killed Roma in Hungary admitted the facts. He had denied in spite of DNA evidence to have taken part in the murders. He also said that some others were still free.  Hungary only jailed three people for the murders and took a long time to judge them.

The filmmaker and journalist Andras B. Vagvölgyi who is one of the best expert on the case told DW that “No political side in the country has an interest in the complete investigation and processing of the Roma murder series, there is a consensus on all sides.,” He was present during most of the trial days in the multi-year trial against the perpetrators and published a book on the Roma murder series in 2016.

Rostock – Commemorations

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Commemorations of the 1992 pogrom in the East German city of Rostock have taken place on Thursday.

“Many don’t want to talk about it anymore, don’t want any more events, just want to forget,” says Stephanie Nelles, Rostock’s integration officer. This opinion is widespread in the city, including in the migrant community. “But there are also many, especially younger people, who don’t want to forget that.” They were never properly informed about the 1992 pogrom in Lichtenhagen and are now asking the parents’ generation, the contemporary witnesses, to talk about it. With this, Nelles outlines the division of remembrance in Rostock’s urban society. The integration officer positions herself clearly: “You can only change if you remember.”

More on the Attacks in Spain

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The National Human Rights Platform, the Faith and Hope Religious Congregation and the Esperanza Gitana Union for Humanity, together with relatives of the alleged murderer of the 19-year-old who died in Íllora (Granada), have filed a letter with the Government Subdelegation to denounce “racist and xenophobic acts” for the assaults against some Roma homes and vehicles following the murder of the 19-year-old.

Sad story.

Attacks in Spain

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The Spanish Ombudsman will study the attacks that occurred against the homes and property of Roma families that occurred in Íllora, in the Poniente region of Granada, in response to a crime allegedly committed by a 23-year-old Rom this past Monday, for which a 19-year-old died.

Representatives of the Spanish Gitana Society met this Friday with members of the Ombudsman’s office to demand protection from the attacks, which occurred this week after a demonstration to demand justice for the murder. After that protest, a group of people went to the houses of relatives of the alleged murderer, who was on the run at that time and who turned himself in the next day, and vandalized them.

Rostock, 30 years ago

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Thirty years ago, a massive racist pogrom took place in Rostock Lichtenhagen. It was mostly directed at Vietnamese immigrants but also touched a few Roma.

It highlighted the existent of violent racism in Germany, something that has unfortunately continued. Other lessons, such as how the police should intervene have been learnt.

Germany: Testimony

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Romeo Tiberiade, a contemporary witness of the anti-foreigner pogrom in Rostock  in 1992 speaks for the first time. Tiberiade came to Germany with his family from Romania in 1992. In conversation with his daughter, Izabela Tiberiade, he reports on the flight to Germany, the pogrom and his family’s life after the pogrom.

Romeo Tiberiade is chairman of the Roma party “Pro Europa” in Dolj and adviser to the Mayor of Craiova on Roma issues. He lives with his family in Craiova.

Izabela Tiberiade is a law graduate from Malmö University and active in the Europe-wide network “Dikh He Na Bister” in memory of the Porajmos. She lives in Malmo.

Spain, Attacks, and Roma

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The Spanish Gitana Society and the Federation of Gitana Women have filed a complaint against the mayor of Íllora (Granada), Antonio Salazar, for alleged incitement to hatred after the violent death of a 19-year-old boy at the town festivals. The incitement concerns acts by citizen who have detained a 23-year-old Gitano, and for the damage to Roma homes the municipality of Poniente de Granada.

Specifically, the Federation of Gitana Women considers the alderman “promoter and instigator” of the assaults registered in the town against several Gitana families and has even requested his arrest.

According to the Spanish Gitana Society, these are “serious crimes”, which “have been generated against Gitana families”, for which they ask that the mayor be “immediately arrested”.

These attacks are becoming more frequent is Spain.

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