Protest over pending Wroclaw Roma eviction
PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge
09.05.2013 14:14
Human rights groups are defending a group of Romanian Roma, who local government want evicted from an encampment in Wroclaw, south western Poland.
Roma children: wikipedia
Roma children: wikipedia
About 60 people, including children, are living at the site, in huts built by the Roma themselves.
There is no running water at the encampment, and about 20 people living there have not formally legalised their stay in Poland.
Wroclaw's city hall filed a court action for the eviction of the Roma in mid-April, following which representatives of Amnesty International and the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights intervened.
Meanwhile, Roman Kwiatkowski, chairman of the Roma Association in Poland, wrote an open letter to the city's mayor claiming that “anti-Roma sentiments were being stirred up by certain groups in Wroclaw,” and that this prejudice is increasing “rapidly.”
The city has now affirmed that if the court decides to evict the Roma, Wroclaw will offer social housing alternatives for the inhabitants of the encampment. (nh)