The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper The Spokesman-Review
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
Current Temperature
45°F
Current Conditions
Scattered clouds
View complete weather report
Subscribe now

Violence drives Romanians from their Belfast homes

Eastern Europeans, many of them known to be Romanian refugees, sit inside a bus as they leave the Lisburn Road area of Belfast, Northern Ireland, following an outburst of racist violence. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Henry Chu Los Angeles Times
Eastern Europeans, many of them known to be Romanian refugees, sit inside a bus as they leave the Lisburn Road area of Belfast, Northern Ireland, following an outburst of racist violence. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

LONDON – More than 100 Romanians in Northern Ireland were left scrambling for shelter Wednesday after being driven from their homes in a spate of racist violence that has shocked a region still nursing the wounds of decades of sectarian conflict.

Officials and community leaders in Belfast, Northern Ireland’s capital, condemned the attacks, whose targets were ethnic Roma, or Gypsies, a minority group that has been subject to discrimination and mistreatment across Europe. No injuries were reported. Among the displaced was a 5-day-old baby.

Gangs of youths in south Belfast began taunting and threatening the immigrants last weekend. When the harassment escalated into rock- and bottle-throwing that shattered windows, terrorized residents and even targeted a counter-demonstration against racism Monday, the families grabbed what belongings they could and fled.

On Wednesday, they were bused to a recreation center after spending the night in a church hall. Small children clutched their parents’ hands as city officials and social workers scrambled to find emergency housing for people afraid to return to their homes.

“It really does shake your humanity to look at all of that and to think that there are people within our society who are prepared to inflict all of this on defenseless babies and their parents,” Martin McGuinness, the deputy first minister of Northern Ireland, said after visiting the families.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown also condemned the attacks, which come against a backdrop of increased violence against Roma throughout Europe – especially countries in the east, such as Hungary and the Czech Republic – as economies flounder, joblessness rises and residents look for scapegoats. Far-right parties that espouse expulsion of immigrants and ethnic minorities have made gains in recent elections to the Parliament of the European Union.

Britain, albeit one of the more tolerant nations within the 27-member EU, is not immune to this. Last week, the British National Party, which does not allow nonwhite members, won two seats in the European Parliament.

Like other parts of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland has seen the number of newcomers grow significantly as Eastern Europeans, exercising their right to move across borders within the EU, arrive in search of better lives.

Reports of racially motivated and nationalistic hate crimes have risen, adding an overlay of violence to a society already scarred by political and religious turmoil. More than 3,000 people were killed during “the Troubles” that engulfed Protestants and Catholics.