Roma persecution in France

[ladylinda]

(This post isn't by me; it's a Tumblr post from a Roma friend of mine who knows me from Facebook and when I recently - two days ago! - at her suggestion joined Tumblr I found this post from her blog.]

Since the beginning of 2017 4,382 Romani have been evicted from their homes in France alone without any court order and without an offer of adequate alternative accommodations to those made homeless despite this being illegal by national standards and international law. And with winter slowly coming it is very likely that even more Romani are going to be evicted considering how most of the 10,119 Romani evicted in the past year, 2016, were evicted during the winter months in the fourth quarter of the year. (source, source)

In addition to these now almost “routine” seeming evictions there is also an increased level of intolerance towards Roma evidenced by arson attacks, denial of access to education, institutional biases in the judiciary, hate speech from politicians and the media, punitive evictions, gun attacks, police brutality and killings. The continuous forced evictions by authorities only expose Roma who are in a precarious situation to further discrimination and danger.

The Romani in France literally live from day to day, not knowing how they will get something to eat the next day, without direct access to drinking water or sanitation, having to look for firewood just so that their children won’t die of the cold at night. Countless of Romani have written open letters, begging to be allowed to stay at least until winter passes however no reaction.

This is a planned and active killing of people based on their ethnicity. This is genocide.

[mouse]

"""This is a planned and active killing of people based on their ethnicity. This is genocide."""
no it isn't genocide or any where near being genocide by any stretch of any ones imaginings

are they actually French citizens and if so why have they not provided for them selves as they must have done in in previous years

so if not French where have these Roma come from...and why

and where are they being evicted from and why

""without direct access to drinking water or sanitation, having to look for firewood just so that their children won’t die of the cold at night."""
if they are working and renting acomadation surely they would have water and sanitation as part of a rental agreement and would not be reduced to looking for fire wood

[ladylinda]

Everybody is a human being.

France is supposed to be a democracy and governed by the rule of law.

But these are illegal evictions, illegal acts of arson, illegal acts of violence and even murder against people PURELY because of their ethnicity.

It violates every human rights code as well as French law.

You clearly regard us as subhuman and not deserving to be treated on the same basis as any other group living in a country.

That's how Hitler thought of us and he wiped out 90% of the Roma in Europe.

As Bob Dylan said, 'you don't need a weatherman to see which way the wind blows.'

You can support hatred and ethnic cleansing if you want to.

I prefer to support fair treatment and the rule of law rather than side with vicious hate-filled bullies.

Unlike you, I routinely follow the treatment of my people and I know that our persecution is an everyday reality in France and Eastern Europe. Britain is much better - so is Macedonia and even the Czechs are not too bad. But the Hungarians, Romanians and Bulgarians treat us appallingly and as for the French - well, I expect much better from the nation of 'liberty, equality and fraternity.'

[ladylinda]

Here's a classic example of why we don't trust the gavers. These Roma in Serbia were naive enough to forget that cops can't be trusted.

www.errc.org/article/roma-tortured-by-police-in-belgrade-after-reporting-stolen-car/4576/

Roma Tortured by Police in Belgrade After Reporting Stolen Car

16 May 2017

Budapest, 16 May 2017: A Romani man and his wife have reported being abused in Belgrade during a police interrogation after reporting their car as stolen.

Police officers detained Jelena and Ivan for thirteen hours, threatening to imprison them, and telling them they had a car waiting to take their children to an orphanage. The officers aimed a gun at Ivan and put a bag over his head. Police did not allow the couple to call their lawyer and after subjecting them to a polygraph test, the officers coerced them into signing documents they had not read and could not take away with them.

The European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) is providing the couple with legal representation. Đorđe Jovanović, the ERRC’s President, expressed his solidarity with the couple: “I want to congratulate Jelena and Ivan for bravely standing up for their human rights and bringing these racists to justice. We will stand with them and support them until justice is done. I want to make clear here - that no matter what actually happened with the car, and even if Ivan and Jelena misrepresented the case, it is not the police who should punish them, there is a justice system for that. If it is proven that they are guilty, the court decides the consequences. In a civilised country, if you commit a crime police should not beat you, this is not what we as citizens pay them to do”. Mr Jovanović extended his message to the many Roma in Serbia who have been abused in police custody and said:

“to others who have experienced similar abuse I say this: if you have been beaten or harassed by police, if they have called you names for being Roma, if they have threatened you or your family - you do not have to accept this. You can fight for your rights like Jelena and Ivan. There are lawyers and NGOs who will stand with you in your fight for justice.”

The ERRC interviewed Jelena and Ivan about the incident. This is what they told us:

After reporting their car stolen, the couple went to Mladenovac police station on 21 April, and then were told they needed to go to Belgrade, where officers drove them in an unmarked car.

Upon arrival they were put through polygraph tests. The officers then separated the couple for interrogation.

Ivan was made to kneel in a room surrounded by eight officers. The officers slapped his face repeatedly and told him to confess to stealing the car himself and to insurance fraud. They racially abused him and kicked him in the stomach. When he still did not confess, an officer began whipping his outstretched hands with a leather whip. One officer put a plastic bag over his head and squeezed the air out, suffocating him. The same policeman also told him if he did not confess they would electrocute him. Another cocked his gun, pointed it at him, and told him he would shoot him in the hand to give him “a memory that would stay with him for a lifetime”.

When Ivan asked to call a lawyer, he was told that he had no right. The officers threatened to take his children away to an orphanage and send him and his wife to prison. He heard one of the officers on the phone talking to social services telling them to get a car ready to take his five year-old and two year-old girls away.

While Ivan was being interrogated, his wife, an Austrian citizen, was in a nearby room with the door open so she could hear some of what was happening. An officer harassed her with comments about her religion and her husband’s ethnicity. They continued verbally abusing her while drinking heavily. She was not allowed to use the toilet at all at first, and then only accompanied by a male officer. Her request to see a lawyer was refused.

Finally, at 10pm, they were given six documents to sign which they could not understand the contents of, and allowed to return home.

Ivan sought medical treatment and was diagnosed with physical injuries to his face and body, as well as post-traumatic stress disorder.

The ERRC is supporting the couple to ensure this case of police brutality – and the institutional racism it represents – is exposed. We congratulate Jelena and Ivan for refusing to be silenced by this appalling abuse carried out by racist police officers.

The names of the victims in this press release have been changed for their safety.

This press release is also available in Serbian.

For more information contact:

Jonathan Lee
Communications Coordinator
European Roma Rights Centre
[e-mail]
[phone]

European Roma Rights Centre

H-1077 Budapest
Wesselényi utca 16
Hungary

Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
E-mail:[e-mail]

[mouse]

Sept 8, 2017 9:23:44 GMT -5 ladylinda said:

Everybody is a human being.

France is supposed to be a democracy and governed by the rule of law.

But these are illegal evictions, illegal acts of arson, illegal acts of violence and even murder against people PURELY because of their ethnicity.

It violates every human rights code as well as French law.

You clearly regard us as subhuman and not deserving to be treated on the same basis as any other group living in a country.

That's how Hitler thought of us and he wiped out 90% of the Roma in Europe.

As Bob Dylan said, 'you don't need a weatherman to see which way the wind blows.'

You can support hatred and ethnic cleansing if you want to.

I prefer to support fair treatment and the rule of law rather than side with vicious hate-filled bullies.

Unlike you, I routinely follow the treatment of my people and I know that our persecution is an everyday reality in France and Eastern Europe. Britain is much better - so is Macedonia and even the Czechs are not too bad. But the Hungarians, Romanians and Bulgarians treat us appallingly and as for the French - well, I expect much better from the nation of 'liberty, equality and fraternity.'

you haven't answered one of my points .. which were/are pertinent to the introduction post so let me repeat my self
like you I have no time vicious hate filled bullies.. nor do I regard a particular section of the human race as subhuman...and hitler at this point in time is irelevent nor am I a fan of ethnic cleansing... just so we know what is what

now I asked you a few questions.. which though you have not been direct about it.. you have answered by omission
you speak these illegal evictions...if the people concerned are occupying woods/land. housing for which they have no permission. which is owned by some one else then eviction is perfectly legal.. it is not up to any one else French or other wise to house in any way those who are not French

if this group of people are not willing to pay their way by working and paying to feed and house them selves and their families.. why on earth should any one else be required to do so... that quite irrational thinking
there is no rule of law that states random peoples can take over land/property belonging to another
and I am gathering that this group your getting all wound up about are not French and therefore the French have no obligations towards them,,, and that being so.... this group of people should return to their home ground where ever it may be

France isn't going to feed and house me if I suddenly rock up with no intentions of funding my own way... its irrational to even consider it
so the answer is.. work and spend the monies on accomadation ...
France has its own peoples to care for .. just as the rest of Europe does

what happened in the era of ww2 is irelevent ... it happened the the Jews and other groups too...and you don't get those other groups making it an excuse for not getting off their backsides

and of course the UK is better .. because the U8K is stupid and spends the tax payers monies like water.. as long as its ..not.. spent on hardworking brits who get short shift in just about everything

[ladylinda]

Well, it's pretty simple.

Whether or not the original point of settlement was illegal it's STILL a legal requirement to follow due process and obtain court orders to evict people.

So the fact that the French authorities have broken their law (and EU law) is MORE important than any original act of trespass.

And eviction WITHOUT a court order IS illegal.

Therefore the EVICTIONS are ILLEGAL.

And of course the 'arson attacks, denial of access to education, institutional biases in the judiciary, hate speech from politicians and the media, punitive evictions, gun attacks, police brutality and killings' are ALSO ILLEGAL.

What it boils down to is that you APPROVE of illegal evictions and of brutality and arson attacks as long as they are only directed against people who (like my own people) you regard as unworthy of being entitled to due process and the rule of law.

Very sad.

You probably think the police who tortured the Roma couple in the second news item I posted acted properly perfectly too!

[Deleted]

it doesn't sound to me that these people are legal immigrants to France nor are they setting up legal camps but yet expect the legal process to protect them in their illegal activities?

[mouse]

Sept 9, 2017 19:22:23 GMT -5 @chefmate51 said:

it doesn't sound to me that these people are legal immigrants to France nor are they setting up legal camps but yet expect the legal process to protect them in their illegal activities?

exactly Cheff.... if they were legally on this land with the consent or paying rent to the owner or owners they would not be getting evicted would they ...
this is where the total hypocracy comes into it .. break a countries laws and then have the absolute chutzpah to expect to benefit from the laws
of that country.. how idiotic is that

[mouse]

Sept 9, 2017 15:12:50 GMT -5 ladylinda said:

Well, it's pretty simple.

Whether or not the original point of settlement was illegal it's STILL a legal requirement to follow due process and obtain court orders to evict people.

So the fact that the French authorities have broken their law (and EU law) is MORE important than any original act of trespass.

And eviction WITHOUT a court order IS illegal.

Therefore the EVICTIONS are ILLEGAL.

And of course the 'arson attacks, denial of access to education, institutional biases in the judiciary, hate speech from politicians and the media, punitive evictions, gun attacks, police brutality and killings' are ALSO ILLEGAL.

What it boils down to is that you APPROVE of illegal evictions and of brutality and arson attacks as long as they are only directed against people who (like my own people) you regard as unworthy of being entitled to due process and the rule of law.

Very sad.

You probably think the police who tortured the Roma couple in the second news item I posted acted properly perfectly too!

now Lin stop being irrational and come off your hobby horse for a moment or two and stop verbally hitting out in a silly manner
I think you are perfectly aware that I do not approve of illegal eviction or brutality etc etc .. that is a given at the same time neither do I approve of illegal trespass..or damage or occupation ....
nor do I approve of any group which takes the piss and breaks laws without a 2nd thought..and then expects others to provide what they are unwilling to provide for them selves

as for this codswallop
"""""like my own people) you regard as unworthy of being entitled to due process and the rule of law"""" your people!..
how ever that aside perhaps you should inform ..your people.. that law is a two way process and that they should be well aware of the laws of the countries they decend upon and should understand that they should work and then pay rent and behave them selves and 100% respect the norms of the countries and abide by them and if unemployed then return to country of origin... pdq
no one but no one should expect a free ride... and just because the UK is stupid it doesn't mean other countries have to be