Travelers

Sarkosy is on the move again. The French are to expel ~700 Roma from Romania and Bulgaria primarily.... this because they can expel people from these EU countries until 2013. The Hungarian, the Slovak gypsies are presumably free to stay.

The news [at least BBC] was interviewing a number of people who had no resemblance to Roma; they even indicated they were born in France and in some cases their parents were born in France. No doubt they are "travelers" complete with caravans, the modern day tinkers not to be confused ethnically with Roma, gypsies, tzigane. Lets hope the French do not tar everyone with the same brush.

There is a problem in the south of France with gypsies and yes many are from Romania. A typical scene in downtown Toulouse; e.g. the main park just out side of the tourist office would include a dozen or more gypsies lounging on the grass or bathing fully dressed in the fountains at lunch hour or the end of the day. They spent the day begging money or cigarettes on key street corners or perhaps even less savory endeavors. They beg in the park also and can be very persistent; I have seen them terrorize a young woman following her for some distance. The gendarmes seldom do anything; explaining themselves by saying its too much trouble to lock them up they would be back in a few hours unless they are wanted for something.

We saw two of them get into a fight in this park over money or drink, scuffle and knock down a old French lady who struck her head and was bleeding. The gypsies vanished literally in seconds when the gendarmes magically appeared and arrested the two who were fighting. The lady was taken to the hospital and presumably was OK. Next day the dynamic duo were back in the park.

Many of the gypsies one sees in western Europe are begging, or washing car windscreens at intersections. According to police in Italy, France etc. there is significant pick-pocketing, stealing or crimes against people [mugging] as well as prostitution. In Rome there have been a number of high profile attacks on people in recent years including homicides that have made gypsies essentially persona non grata. Most of these Roma are from eastern Europe and arrived in recent years. In contrast to this, there is e.g. a community in the south of France at Perpignan [close to the Spanish boarder] who have been there for over a hundred years and are "assimilated" [at least as much as they wish to be].

Interesting dilemma in trying to protect human rights... whose rights take preference?

Mauritius