"Racist" attacks on Romanian migrants

Posted: Wed 17 Jun 2009 3 47 pm

Romanians fleeing racism seek sanctuary in Belfast church hall
More than 100 Romanians sought shelter in a church hall after fleeing their homes in Belfast because of racist attacks.

Around 20 families were helped by police to evacuate their homes in the Lisburn Road area of south Belfast and seek safety on Tuesday night.

Police and community leaders condemned racism in the area which culminated in an attack on a rally in support of the east European migrants on Monday night.

Youths hurled bottles and made Nazi salutes at those taking part in the anti-racism rally.

The men, women and children, including a five-day-old baby girl, first sought shelter in a house where they thought they would be safe.

But there were so many trying to cram in a local church offered them the use of the church hall.

Pastor Malcolm Morgan claimed the church had been happy to help, saying: "It is a sad indictment of our society, but hopefully we can show them a different side to Northern Ireland and a caring side to Northern Ireland."

Pastor Morgan later said he believed a "small group of racist thugs" were behind the attacks.

Speaking to GMTV, he said: "Trouble was brewing for a few days. There have been stones thrown and windows smashed. It is a small group of racist thugs."

He continued: "When (the Romanians) arrived ... they were very distraught and bewildered. We have a five-day-old baby amongst the group and lots of young children."

Asked whether religion could be a motive for the attacks, Pastor Morgan replied: "They are migrant workers and I don't think it is anything to do with religion at all."

The families have now vowed to leave Northern Ireland for good.

They were starting to pack up possessions with the intention of returning to Romania.

Posted: Wed 17 Jun 2009 3 58 pm

This is most deplorable, of course. I feel very sorry for these poor Romanian families, driven from their homes by a mob, who can have no excuse whatsoever for their hateful, violent actions. However, I have to ask if this mob could truly be described as "racist"?

Romanians I have met seem hardly different from the natives of Northern Ireland, as far as their ethnic and cultural background is concerned. This mob was more likely to have been a collection of people fed up to the back teeth with excessive immigration.

Did they perhaps feel these Romanians were getting preferential treatment in the allocation of council housing? The report does not make it clear what their grievance was. "Racism" is such a convenient catch-all term, isn't it?

The BBC reported this incident at lunch time, expressing the hope that soon these Romanians might be assured that "the vast majority" of NI people wanted to welcome them with open arms.

But why on earth should they? Are they not more likely to wonder what on earth people from Romania are doing there in the first place? Rolling Eyes

Posted: Wed 17 Jun 2009 6 05 pm

I don't recall ever hearing about any other immigrant group being driven out in Northern Ireland.

Is this a symptom of our times (BNP getting MEPs elected, etc) or does it reflect a backlash against this particular groups activities?

I don't know much about Romanians but I do seem to recall there having been issues elsewhere - Italy, I believe, was rounding them up and shipping them out.

Joined: 05 Nov 2005 Posts: 2977 Location: North of Watford

Bestbear wrote:

This is most deplorable, of course. I feel very sorry for these poor Romanian families, driven from their homes by a mob, who can have no excuse whatsoever for their hateful, violent actions. However, I have to ask if this mob could truly be described as "racist"?

Romanians I have met seem hardly different from the natives of Northern Ireland, as far as their ethnic and cultural background is concerned.

http://www.childline.org.uk/Info/Pages/Racism.aspx

Spartacus

Posted: Thu 18 Jun 2009 2 14 am

One reason this is troubling is probably because so many Gypsies were exterminated by the Nazis during the Holocaust.

I think that, except for the Jews of Europe, the Gypsies (as a group) had the highest death toll.

Posted: Thu 18 Jun 2009 8 38 am

Were these Romanians also Romany? I have not read that anywhere, JP.

Whatever, attacks of this sort are dreadful. I hope the full weight of law enforcement comes downon the perpetrators. At the same time, we need to know what made these people so angry. I doubt of it was mere Xenophobia !

Posted: Thu 18 Jun 2009 8 40 am

Bestbear wrote:

Were these Romanians also Romany? I have not read that anywhere, JP

Possibly deemed guilty by association?

Posted: Sat 20 Jun 2009 4 59 pm

It seems they are Romany, Dog .... Here is an excerpt from a long "special report" in the Mail:-

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1194358/SPECIAL-INVESTIGATION-As-hate-filled-mobs-drive-Romanian-gipsies-Ulster-ask-whos-REALLY-blame.html

(The sight of) foreigners being evacuated with their belongings were received with horror.

This, after all, is a city still nervously emerging from decades of violence and bloodshed. The last thing anyone wants to see is new fissures in Ulsterâ€™s tragic history of ethnic hatred.

Indeed, so appalled was Naomi Long, the Lord Mayor of Belfast, that she was in tears when she was asked about the violence.

â€˜A minority of people in this city have brought shame on us and I urge the good people of Belfast, the overwhelming majority, to co-operate with the police and bring the perpetrators of these racist attacks to justice.â€™

As Gordon Brown called on the authorities to take all possible action to end the violence, and former IRA terrorists now sharing power condemned those involved in the violence, Mrs Long pledged to do everything possible to persuade the Romanians to stay in Northern Ireland.

â€˜If they go back to Romania, the thugs will think they have won,â€™ she added. â€˜That is the last thing we want. We must find them permanent new homes.â€™

Not everyone shares her sentiments. There was fury in The Village, a rugged working-class area a mile from the attacks, some of whose residents joined the mob wanting to drive the Roma out.

With murals of the Queen painted on walls and Union Jacks fluttering from virtually every window, the people of The Village are incensed at the â€˜special treatmentâ€™ they say immigrants receive, while they themselves live in grim terrace homes with outside toilets.

â€˜These people are sly,â€™ said Annie Johnson, a local woman. â€˜Itâ€™s all just a racket â€” they put on their sad faces and get moved to the top of the queue for housing.

â€˜Politicians are full of cr*p. They leap into action at the first mention of racism â€” but what about the poor people who have lived here all their lives?â€™

Opinion has been inflamed not only by the crimes the police and locals agree some of the Roma commit â€” but also by the fact that no one has even been able to debate the issue of their presence in the city without being accused of racism .

Ian Magill, 45, runs the only shop in The Village, which was once a stronghold for Loyalist terrorists. He is a calm, intelligent man, whose greatest wish is that his three sons do not get into trouble with the law.

Dominic, his youngest son, was adopted from Croatia, so Mr Magill can hardly be described as someone with a hatred of foreigners.
Romanians arrive with some possessions at the Ozone Leisure Centre

Romanians arrive with some possessions at the Ozone Leisure Centre

But he is under no illusions about why people from his area were involved in the violence.

â€˜People feel like they are under siege because of all the immigrants coming in,â€™ he said. â€˜Itâ€™s getting to the stage where people just donâ€™t care any more.

â€˜You get branded a racist if you speak out about the issue of immigration. But I think Iâ€™m being a realist, not a racist, when I say that this is something we must address.

â€˜Most of the Polish immigrants work â€” but these people [Romas] donâ€™t,â€™ he added.

â€˜They are pretty uneducated and they seem to think that the only way they can survive is to bend the rules.

â€˜But when you are doing this, and carrying out crimes against local people, it becomes a problem. They shouldnâ€™t be here.â€™

Not all Mr Magillâ€™s fellow citizens are as considered as he is. At a nearby off-licence, a young, welldressed man of about 30 erupts in anger.

He says all these â€˜foreigners should be burned out of their f****** homes. All we hear about are their problems. For once, why donâ€™t you write about the problems these people cause to us localsâ€™.

He is referring to a wave of petty crime that has swept Belfast over the past two years â€” the period in which the Roma have arrived.

The crimes, confirmed by police, range from â€˜mobbingâ€™ elderly ladies at cashpoint machines, distracting them while they steal cash, to using razor blades to slice the straps of handbags and disappear with possessions before anyone knows.

Roma have also been linked with prostitution and people trafficking. But it is the petty crimes that are causing such fury.

Countless people I spoke to in The Village reported clothes being stolen from their washing lines â€” one man claimed to have seen a Roma wearing his distinctive jeans, which had disappeared while hanging out to dry, only for the thief to laugh in his face â€” and childrenâ€™s bikes being taken from back yards.

Of course, no one is suggesting that every Roma in Belfast is a criminal. And itâ€™s also true that many in the province are deeply troubled by the presence of any foreigners, however law-abiding they might be.

Northern Ireland during The Troubles was hardly an ideal destination to start a new life â€” with more than 3,000 murdered during the decades of bloodshed between Catholics and Protestants.

Things changed after the 1998 peace agreement, however, and as Britainâ€™s borders were thrown open by Tony Blair, Ulster became a popular destination for immigrants from Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe.

The British government, of course, insisted that only 20,000 people would come from Europe. In reality, a staggering 600,000 poured into the United Kingdom, putting a huge strain on health services, housing and jobs.

But it was the admission of Romania to the EU in 2007 that caused the gravest problems.

Interpol has since warned that organised criminals among the Romanian immigrants are stealing from indigenous populations on the orders of gangsters back home.

British police said last year that they were struggling to cope with a staggering 800 per cent increase in crimes, such as pickpocketing, committed by Romanians since they started coming to Britain in large numbers.

<snip>

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As I said above, hurling accusations of "racism" solves nothing, however much it may warm the cockles of "progressive" hearts. We need to ask what is the cause of the anger.

Now we know.

Posted: Sun 21 Jun 2009 12 58 pm

Are the Romany and the Roma the same thing?

My missus is one quartre Romani on her fathers side, but I'm not aware of any Romanian connections (and, so far, she has somehow managed to avoid any criminal convictions)

Posted: Sun 21 Jun 2009 12 59 pm

A quick google reveals that the Roma are a Romani sub group.