Police Clean Downtown Brussels from Balkan Roma Squatters

A year after French President Nicolas Sarkozy called for the removal of Roma camps to be stepped up, right-wing groups in France say there are just as many Roma gypsies in the country. EPA/BGNES

The Brussels police launched at dawn Monday a mass action to clean the area around the Gare du Nord railroad station from Roma squatters.

Local media inform that 72 Roma from the Balkans had been living in the vicinity and were warned in advance by the authorities that they must leave the area. The Roma did not resist the move. No arrests have been made.

It is expected that the City Hall will provide to them an abandoned property they could use for housing without stirring trouble for other residents and visitors of Brussels.

The internet page of the La Libre Belgique newspaper writes that this is an ethnic minority no one wants, even though Roma are citizens of the European Union because they make no effort to become integrated, educated and to find jobs.

The publication further notes that the most likely reason for the Roma to direct their attention to cities such as Brussels is the emerging of more and more nationalists and far-right parties in their native countries. Because Roma have the statute of EU citizens they cannot ask for asylum, which aggravates the problem, according to the publication. The articel also points out that in Europe the Roma are subject to segregation, discrimination and forced castration.

In 2010, France was the first one to undertake a campaign to expel Bulgarian and Romanian Roma to their home countries on security grounds.

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