Romanians flee homes after attack

[Treffie]

A five-day-old girl is among more than 100 Romanian people who have spent the night in a church hall after fleeing their homes in south Belfast.

The group of about 20 families said they left their homes in the Lisburn Road area after suffering racist attacks for almost a week.

Belfast City Council, the police and social services are due to meet later.

Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said it was a "totally shameful episode" in the city.

"We need a collective effort to face down this criminals in society who are quite clearly intent on preying on vulnerable women and children," he said.

Most of the Romanian families are are being taken to a leisure centre in south Belfast, where they will spend the rest of the day. They said they did not want to return to their Belfast homes.

Lord Mayor Naomi Long said she did not want to see families "driven from Belfast".

"They have a right to be in Belfast they are part of the fabric of this city. I want to see them treated with the respect and dignity that I would demand for any other citizen," she said.


Looking at 115 Romanians huddled together on the floor of a Belfast church hall, it was possible to see the worst side of Northern Ireland - and the best - all at once.

The speed with which Pastor Malcolm Morgan and his team created a temporary home for 20 families was remarkable.

At the same time, the sight of men, women and children looking so helpless and scared was a stain on Northern Ireland's international reputation.

Many of the families came to Belfast believing that the years of prejudice and narrow-mindedness were over. However, it seems that in some parts of the city, racism is the new sectarianism.

"This is a small number of people who are engaged in this violence. I understand this is cold comfort to the people affected by it."

Bernie Kelly, from Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, said it had been a very traumatic experience for the Romanians.

"The whole thing has escalated very quickly," she said.

"Working with the police and all the agencies together we are going to have to find a resolution."

The BBC's Mark Simpson said that in some parts of Belfast racism had become the new sectarianism.

There have been suspicions that a loyalist paramilitary group is involved in the violence, but this has been denied, our correspondent added.

One of the women who took shelter in the church, who did not want to be named, said she was very upset and scared.

She said she had feared the attackers had come to kill her and her family, and she now wanted to go back to Romania.

But the help of the church had shown a positive side to the people of Belfast as well, she added.

Earlier, the group of 115 people had tried to take refuge in a single house, but was eventually taken to the church in a police minibus.

Unsafe

Anna Lo of the Alliance Party said the families were "very frightened".

Ms Lo said attacks on Romanian homes - which included bricks being thrown through windows - had been increasing in frequency in recent months.

"They are really very frightened," she said. "The women, when they were talking to me yesterday, they were really upset, tears in their eyes and said, 'You know we love it here, we'd like to live here, but we're too scared.'

"A woman showed me her shoulder which was quite bruised and cut across, she was hit across the shoulder."

Jolena Flett, Racial Harassment Adviser for the Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities, said they had been threatened verbally and then three properties were attacked on the same day.

"There has been an issue about the families feeling unsafe in the properties they were attacked in. What we are trying to do is provide them with alternative accommodation," she said.

Malcolm Morgan, pastor at the church, said he was happy to help and the Romanians could stay as long as they needed to.

"It's a sad indictment of our society, but hopefully we can show them a different side to Northern Ireland and a caring side of Northern Ireland," he said.

Anti-racist rally

Police patrols have been stepped up in the area and officers are examining CCTV for evidence of those responsible for the attacks.

A spokeswoman for the Police Service of Northern Ireland said: "Police in the south Belfast area assisted several organisations in the temporary relocation of a number of families following consultation with community representatives.

"Families moved to a near-by church and they are being cared for by the appropriate agencies."

The families decided to leave their homes after an anti-racist rally on Monday night was attacked.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/8104287.stm

[Absinthe]

Well, like a friend of mine said..."du måste inte vara här, du jävla fitta" :wink

[Phlegethon]

Those aren't Romanians, those are gypsies. Shoplifters, thieves, cutpurses and beggars aren't that popular anywhere in the world.

[Treffie]

Those aren't Romanians, those are gypsies. Shoplifters, thieves, cutpurses and beggars aren't that popular anywhere in the world.

Exactly. Remember though that this a BBC report.:rolleyes2:


Posted by The Green Fairy
Well, like a friend of mine said..."du måste inte vara här, du jävla fitta"

Haha, thanks for the translation!!

[Phlegethon]

http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/KF/0511/charlie/21_-_Charlie_And_His_Orchestra_-_Whos_Afraid_Of_The_Big_Bad_Wolf.mp3

Listen to the BBC, BBC, BBC
Listen to the BBC, tralalalala
Who's teaching world democracy, democracy, democracy
Who's wants to make free people free, tralalalala

[Loki]

Phew, I'm glad to hear this is in Belfast. For a moment, when I saw the headline, I was worried about the safety of Skadi staff. ;)

[Beorn]

Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said it was a "totally shameful episode" in the city.

Almost as shameful as killing innocent men, women and children, hey Mr. McGuinness :wink


"We need a collective effort to face down this criminals in society who are quite clearly intent on preying on vulnerable women and children," he said.

How about we give them a seat in parliament with a good salary?


She said she had feared the attackers had come to kill her and her family, and she now wanted to go back to Romania.

Job done. :thumbs

[Beorn]

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/06/17/article-1193571-055FB1C7000005DC-123_468x579.jpg
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/06/17/article-1193571-05605EE3000005DC-862_468x300.jpg
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/06/17/article-1193571-05605F08000005DC-688_468x305.jpg
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/06/17/article-1193571-056085D2000005DC-548_468x345.jpg

[Treffie]

:rolleyes2:

[Spaniard_Truth]

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/06/17/article-1193571-055FB1C7000005DC-123_468x579.jpg
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/06/17/article-1193571-05605EE3000005DC-862_468x300.jpg
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/06/17/article-1193571-05605F08000005DC-688_468x305.jpg
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/06/17/article-1193571-056085D2000005DC-548_468x345.jpg

LOL, are they the "Romanians"? They look fresh out of India.

[Absinthe]

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/06/17/article-1193571-055FB1C7000005DC-123_468x579.jpg

^ Looks like the typical balkan/caucasian crowd I encounter in the super marker in my neighbourhood :grumpy:

Not counting the negroes and muslims of course :puke:

[Phlegethon]

Watching the universe at the end of another day
Fatalistic ships from a distant shore
In the back of my mind I could see she was standing there
Like the feeling you have
When you've been there before

She was a gypsy woman
She was as cold as the day
She said I'd got it coming
And then she took me away

She took me through the shadows of her sunken dream
I thought it's over me, she wasn't all she seemed
She took my hand and then she started to speak
She told me she'd had the call
With eyes of fire that were burning my soul
She looked into her crystal ball
She read my fortune then she read my mind
She didn't like my thoughts at all
She showed me shadows, a spectre of life
My soul just wanted to scream
She stared so deeply into my eyes
That's when I fell into a dream
When I awoke in bed she lay beside me
And she read me with her eyes, she said
So you wanna be a gypsy, come on now
Gypsy woman, you're the devil in drag
You are the queen of all hell
You took my body, now you're wasting my soul
You've got me under your spell
And as the sun shines on another day
You're gonna take my mind as well, it's over
So you wanna be a gypsy, come on now.

[Phlegethon]

^ Looks like the typical balkan/caucasian crowd I encounter in the super marker in my neighbourhood :grumpy:

Typical tracksuit trailer trash.

(Yeah, I am saving the nation through alliteration.)

[The Lawspeaker]

LOL, are they the "Romanians"? They look fresh out of India.
They look more like gypo's to me...

[Absinthe]

They look more like gypo's to me...

Well not sure if the people in the photos are ethnic Romanians, or gypsies, however this is what the typical Albanians as well as the former USSR caucasian ethnicities look like.

And this is probably going to top the "most controversial opinion" list, but I would take the non-whites as my preferred neighbours over them, any day, if I had a choice :grumpy:

[Spaniard_Truth]

They look more like gypo's to me...

Yeah, that's what I meant :D

They're definitely Gypsies, even darker than Turks, to be honest. I meant these people look barely mixed with Europeans at all. Almost full blood Gypsies from Northern India.




And this is probably going to top the "most controversial opinion" list, but I would take the non-whites as my preferred neighbours over them, any day, if I had a choice :grumpy:

But they're obviously non-white.

[Loki]

And this is probably going to top the "most controversial opinion" list, but I would take the non-whites as my preferred neighbours over them, any day, if I had a choice :grumpy:

IMO these are non-whites as well. They'll have to fight, like the Irish, to become white one day. ;)

[Treffie]

Some comments from people in positions of authority (taken from BBC)

Geez, this makes my blood boil! :mad:


GORDON BROWN

I hope the authorities are able to take all the action necessary to protect them


MARTIN MCGUINNESS, SINN FEIN

We need a collective effort to face down these criminals in society who are quite clearly intent on preying on vulnerable women and children.
We are going to do everything in our power to ensure these criminals, these racist criminals, don't have their way


MICHAEL MCGIMPSEY, HEALTH MINISTER

I utterly condemn this outrageous attack on these Roma families. I am appalled at this situation.
There is no place in Northern Ireland for this kind of racist violence and abuse. We value the contribution that people from all nationalities make to the life of Northern Ireland. Everyone who lives here deserves to be treated with respect and dignity.

I am very encouraged that so many of the neighbours and local community groups in south Belfast have rallied to support the families and show their disgust at such appalling acts of intimidation


ALASDAIR MCDONNELL, SDLP

We have reached a serious turning point when low-level racist intimidation turns to mass expulsion under police escort.
I am glad to hear that a local church responded with emergency accommodation and the city council and other agencies are stepping up to the mark.

However, the real issue for our whole community is to bring everyone back to their homes and offer them proper protection.

That means identifying the culprits quickly and getting them in front of the courts. Then we need to tackle the twin evils of sectarianism and racism head on instead of just responding to events


NAOMI LONG, ALLIANCE

They have a right to be in Belfast. They are part of the fabric of this city. I want to see them treated with the respect and dignity that I would demand for any other citizen.
This is a small number of people who are engaged in this violence. I understand this is cold comfort to the people affected by it.


EVELYN COLLINS, EQUALITY COMMISSION

The attacks over the past few days which have forced a number of Romanian families to leave their homes in south Belfast are a grim reflection of the persistence of racial prejudice within our society.
This terrible situation must be met with a clear and positive response from police, public authorities and local communities, and the commission will continue to work with all of these bodies to combat racial discrimination and challenge prejudice within Northern Ireland.

We have to assure members of minority ethnic communities here that the great majority of people in Northern Ireland are shocked by these racist attacks and that they have our support

Do these people understand what the Roma are like? :mad:

[Beorn]

Have a read at what the Daily Mail readers have written here (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1193571/Romanians-flee-Belfast-homes-racist-attacks.html).

My favourite has to be this one:



No matter what your opinions on foreign policy, racial violence is NOT acceptable. These people are victims of thuggery, pure and simple. How some people seem to be condoning it simply because they are not British is beyond comprehension. I am appalled at some of the attitudes here.

- Emma, Bristol, England, 17/6/2009 12:04



You can guarantee she lives in an all white part of Bristol. ;)

[Äike]

Well not sure if the people in the photos are ethnic Romanians, or gypsies, however this is what the typical Albanians as well as the former USSR caucasian ethnicities look like.

And this is probably going to top the "most controversial opinion" list, but I would take the non-whites as my preferred neighbours over them, any day, if I had a choice :grumpy:

Pure Romanians are lighter then those gypsies on the pics. Romania has a bad reputation for being a gypsy country, but gypsies make only 2,5% of the population of Romania.

I'm a "caucasian ethnicity from the former USSR" and I don't look like that:D

Last time I checked I had very light white skin, blond hair and light eyes;)

[Absinthe]

IMO these are non-whites as well. They'll have to fight, like the Irish, to become white one day. ;)
Sorry, I didn't mean that, I meant non-white immigrants coming from thirld world countries, as opposed to non-white immigrants coming from "european" or near-european countries. As those are the worst scum of all.

[Absinthe]

I'm a "caucasian ethnicity from the former USSR" and I don't look like that:D

Last time I checked I had very light white skin, blond hair and light eyes;)
:rolleyes: By "caucasian ethnicity from the former USSR" I meant the actual Caucasus region...Georgia, Azerbaijan, kazakhstan, and so on.

[Phlegethon]

Kazakhstan is not really Caucasus.

[Absinthe]

Yes, however those countries form a geopolitical entity with the caucasian ones...

[Svarog]

Most Romanians that leaves Romania are actually gypsies, real Romanians looks completely normal, huge gypsy population there and especially gypsy diaspora from Romania makes people think all Romanians are gypsies, of course, these are immigrants so there is not much difference, but still, people on these pictures are gypsies. Thank EU for that.

[Guapo]

Ya they are gypsies. Real Romanians :D

http://fifachampionship.xhost.ro/diviziasexy.html

[Tabiti]

Been to Romania, those are gypsies.
Caucasians in general are lighter than gypsies, imo. Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, etc have more mongoloid, not dravid appearance.

[RoyBatty]

LOL, are they the "Romanians"? They look fresh out of India.

Gyppo's indeed

[RoyBatty]

I remember reading that Northern Ireland had a very low (if not the lowest) number of immigrants / asylumseekers / chancers in the UK. They obviously still have a sense of community up there and protect their turf from being overrun.

[Beorn]

I remember reading that Northern Ireland had a very low (if not the lowest) number of immigrants / asylumseekers / chancers in the UK.

It certainly looked that way when I lived there. I didn't travel around too much into Belfast, but it was distinctly Irish to say the least. The same with the smaller towns like Ballymena and Ballymoney. You rarely came across your odd half-caste and Africans, andon the whole the only "community" that was foreign was the Chinese, but they seem to be everywhere anyway :D

I've heard the problems tend to have effected the Southern Irish more as they are more subjected to the liberal Marxist BS mindset, in both their halls of power and their own society


They obviously still have a sense of community up there and protect their turf from being overrun.

Certainly do! To the neutral the place can be rather intimidating but warm and very welcoming at the same time.

The amount of times the strange looks turned to happy smiles and a quick blast of questions as to where I was from in England.

[Loki]

Ya they are gypsies. Real Romanians :D

http://fifachampionship.xhost.ro/diviziasexy.html

*checking for departure times to Bucharest*

:loco:

[The Lawspeaker]

*checking for departure times to Bucharest*

:loco:
Not Bucharest. Some other place. New Delhi or somewhere behind the bloody Urals.:)

[RoyBatty]

I've heard the problems tend to have effected the Southern Irish more as they are more subjected to the liberal Marxist BS mindset, in both their halls of power and their own society


I can certainly attest to this. A couple of years ago I was doing the rounds in Ireland and at one point ended up around a hospital for a couple of days due to a minor incident. It was a very interesting location from which to observe what had been happening in the area.

There were frequently African families straight off the banana plane coming for free healthcare and pregnancy checkups. They'd cheekily even demand (and receive) money from the hospital to pay for their cabfares and so forth. When I enquired about this phenomenon the hospital staff explained to me that it was a favourite past time of Cameroonians, Nigerians and so forth to fly into Shannon Airport when the wife / girlfriend etc was about to give birth.

The kid would be born in Ireland and under the law (at that time), this meant that the family could stay in Ireland at least until the child was 18 years old. In the mean time they'd probably have a few more kids, extend the "visit" automatically even further and so forth and so forth. No doubt the state probably provided them with generous welfare and medical assistance.

To be fair I don't blame the Africans for chancing it since they're simply being opportunists who couldn't believe their luck and the stupidity of the society that was sponsoring them. Strange world! :)

[Sally]

Romanian gypsies are pretty ubiquitous in central Helsinki nowadays, unfortunately. The other day, one tried to sell me a paper flower (!), and another brandished a gold bracelet, trying to entice me. However, most of the time they just beg and wail ever so pitifully...

[RoyBatty]

Near where I work a couple of them operate a squeegee scam (the unsolicited "washing" of car windows at traffic lights).

It was funny driving in that area with a violent 6'4" colleague who keeps a Maglite flashlight in his car to settle roadside "disputes" such as this. :D

[Guapo]

Not Bucharest. Some other place. New Delhi or somewhere behind the bloody Urals.:)

Shaddap. You don't have to breed with them :)

[The Lawspeaker]

Shaddap. You don't have to breed with them :)
:thumb001: No but I don't want to have to live with them either.

[Agrippa]

Gypsies are no Romanians and they are no Europeans neither, not by culture, ethnicity nor race.

If you want to know where the profit goes, largely to rich Gypsies leading criminal organisations, living in distasteful homes like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oQSBWadg5M&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fforum%2Ethiazi%2Enet%2Fshowthrea d%2Ephp%3Ft%3D153772%26highlight%3DZigeuner%26page %3D2&feature=player_embedded

http://lh4.google.com/weirdomatic/RzdZagdeGVI/AAAAAAAAAEo/Zu-y7BO3XGI/s800/buzescu6.JPG
http://lh4.google.com/weirdomatic/RzdZOgdeGTI/AAAAAAAAAEY/2LDUhDx-JPg/s800/buzescu4.JPG
http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/2874/gypsygoldac4.jpg

They live from beggars and prostitutes quite often, babies to old from their own ethnic group, but blame Europeans for dont caring... Actually its organised crime and they always take ugly, sick, crippled people, some of them even poor real Romanians, probably because of depts and blackmail, throughout Europe, the rest playing the aggressive card, stealing and making frauds, getting money from the local administration, like the Gypsies in Berlin did lately. The state paid money because they promised to go, for their journey, you can guess now, most stayed and I'm pretty sure more are coming...

Liberal policy on such matters sucks and the naive "politically correct" do-gooders understand nothing, because if letting them go like they want won't change anything to the better, not even too much for the beggars and prostitutes themselves.

Not talking about them spreading diseases (like Tuberculosis and STD's) and criminal behaviour (aggressive begging, illegal prostitution including child prostitution, thievery, robbery, violent attacks, battery) throughout the "European Union"...

[Lenny]

http://img44.imageshack.us/img44/1094/article1193571055fb1c70.jpg

Whatever their ethnicity is, I wouldn't want to roll out the red carpet to such dark, coarse racial elements to "assimilate into" my genepool either.

Well done "lads"! (Being that South Belfast is protestant - it seems to have been the work of unreconstructed UVF,UDA,UFF,(etc) men. If every European country had such groups, things would look brighter long-term...)

[Brynhild]

For all the troubles that Australia has with migrants, I'm glad it's too far for gypsies. Even we've heard in these parts of what they're like, the emphasis being on watch your wallet! :mad:

[Äike]

The news even made it to the Estonian media and there were no lies in it.
"Northern-Irish police had to protect over 100 gypsies"

[Tabiti]

The "poor gypsy" stereotype is a myth. A virgin gypsy bride can have price about 15 000 euro, most of them are full of gold, modern technical gadgets and so on. Most of them live like animals in mud, but have satelite TV, refrigerators, MP3 players and so on. Gypsy way of life is dictated not by their poverty but "moral" and worldview.
There is a funny story about "crowd of hungry gypsies" attacking supermarkets in Czech Republic. After the robberies, the shop owners said the missing goods weren't food products, but parfumes and alcohol...

[Loki]

It's unfortunate that the true, ethnic Romanians often get tarred with the gypsy brush by people who don't know much about Romania.

Romanians are a hardy bunch of people ... just see how excellent they do in the olympics! One of the best performing nations per capita.

[Svarog]

Gypsy? Nope, a Romanian.

http://www.fotorola.com/uploads/a86cb22fdb.jpg

[Revenant]

For all the troubles that Australia has with migrants, I'm glad it's too far for gypsies. Even we've heard in these parts of what they're like, the emphasis being on watch your wallet! :mad:

No, they're here too, even scamming in Perth the most isolated city on the planet :eek:. They set up their ATM scam here a few months ago and CCTV footage caught pictures of people that look like those in the photos posted previously. The Eastern states copped it far worse than we did though.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25494032-661,00.html

[Orange&BlueBear]

In South Belfast the immigrants are engaged in a lot of crime from house robbing, stealing of washing lines, robbing people by sticking a knife to their throats, they are blamed locally for a number of rapes that have happened in the South of the City, they are known to be heavily involved in prostitution and drug dealing. The affects that the Chinese and Romanian criminals are having on the living standards in working class parts of inner-South Belfast is clear for anybody with even a bit of local knowledge or with full vision instead of selective hearing and vision.

They are selling their big issues, silly roses and other flowers and trying to sell the local Belfast telegraph all over the town, they can be very intimidating individuals when their trying to sell you something or scrounge money of ya, personally the bloody sight of the vermin makes my blood boil. I'll not put into words my full thoughts on them!

It's only a pity that the paramilitaries leaderships are all working too the governments agenda as I'm sure if it was up to the rank and file throughout the Province what little intimidation these parasites to Ulster have suffered would be nothing to what they should and could receive for the damage their doing too our communities.

[Útrám]

Once you have an encounter with gypsies all your doubt and questions of their history of expatriation, debarment and persecution will be completely obliterated.