Belfast

[elleng]

Police in Northern Ireland have charged two teenagers over a series of attacks on Romanian families that drove 100 people from their homes.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland says the boys -- aged 15 and 16 -- were charged with provocative conduct late Saturday. The 15-year-old also was charged with intimidation.

They are due in court Monday.

Around 20 Romanian families of Roma, or Gypsy, origin sought shelter in a local church last week after local gangs hurled bricks and bottles at their homes. They are now being sheltered at another undisclosed location.

A surge in racist violence over the past few years has coincided with the decline in Northern Ireland's traditional conflict between Catholic and Protestant paramilitary groups.

http://nytimes.com/aponline/2009/06/21/world/AP-EU-NIreland-Romanians.html

[Rhiannon12866]

1. Oh, Lord... not again...

Just when we thought that one crisis point in the world had calmed down. ;(

I've been in Belfast, but that was during one of their stand-off periods. :-(

[elleng]

2. In particular,

'A surge in racist violence over the past few years has coincided with the decline in Northern Ireland's traditional conflict between Catholic and Protestant paramilitary groups.'

[Rhiannon12866]

3. I don't recall seeing much diversity in Ireland,

but imagine it's more prevalent in the bigger cities. This is really heartbreaking. I was so hoping that, finally, a generation would grow up without knowing hate. :-(

[annabanana]

4. Thugs must have their target.

Any "other" will do in a pinch.

[vadawg]

5. yup same ole same ole, ulster and the west of scotland have always had major issues

with outsiders when the various groups are not going after each other, not sure it will ever go away or get solved.

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. Good in-depth article on this here:

'Romanian gypsies beware beware. Loyalist C18 are coming to beat you like a baiting bear'

Text message sent by Combat 18 in Northern Ireland last week Belfast was shocked by last week's assaults on Roma families. But in 'the Village', the loyalist enclave where anti-Romanian sentiment is strongest, even those who condemn the violence are bitterly opposed to immigration. By Henry McDonald

...
On Friday evening, in nearby Donegall Avenue, police officers were raiding three homes, in the "Village", a working-class loyalist district wedged between the edge of the university and the M1 motorway. A 15-year-old and a 16-year-old were last night charged with provocative conduct, while the 15-year-old was also charged with intimidation of the Romanian families. Others have gone into hiding as the Police Service of Northern Ireland comes under pressure to erase what the city's lord mayor, Naomi Long, has called the "stain of shame" over Belfast.

The "Village", with its long rows of Victorian terraced houses running down towards Windsor Park stadium, home of the Northern Ireland football team, has been for some time the pressure point for racism in the province. In April, 46 Polish nationals fled from their homes after a series of co-ordinated attacks. The orgy of violence was carried out by a gang of loyalist youths in retaliation for the behaviour of Polish football hooligans who started a riot outside Windsor Park before the Northern Ireland-Poland World Cup clash, which the home side won 3-2.

Since the middle of the decade, foreign nationals from across the world who have moved into the area have been the target of racists. First, it was the Chinese whose homes were attacked, then the Poles and Slovakians, and latterly the Roma. At the end of 2004 there were an estimated 453 race hate crimes a year reported to the PSNI across Northern Ireland; in the past 12 months that figure has risen to 1,000.

There are plenty of people in the "Village" who, while condemning violence, are openly hostile to immigrants. One middle-aged woman in Olympia Drive, at the back of Windsor Park, who refused to give her name, complained that there were too many foreigners in her area.
...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/21/race-northern-ireland-romanian-gypsies

[vadawg]

7. when i was a kid we used to have to roam in packs with dogs in order to not be attacked

luckily there were lots of us and most people didnt want to fuck with us due to repucussions, but its well known that tinks, pikeys etc are well hated in Europe.

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. Romanians leave NI after attacks

One hundred Romanians who fled their homes in Belfast after a spate of recent attacks have decided to leave Northern Ireland and return home.

Social Development Minister Margaret Ritchie said 25 people had already left and a further 75 were going to leave as soon as they could.

Mrs Ritchie said just 14 people had decided to stay in the country.
...
City Church, which last week provided temporary overnight shelter for the ethnic Roma, was targeted by vandals on Monday night.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/8114234.stm

Damn. The bigots win. I can't blame the Romanians decision, though. :(