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Tuesday, 25 August 2009

Emergency accommodation for evicted Romanians

Emergency accomodation for evicted Romanians

Around 20 Romanians were being housed in emergency accommodation on Tuesday night after being evicted from a house in south Belfast.

It is understood the Roma people, some of whom had recently returned to the city after fleeing earlier in the summer in the wake of a spate of racist attacks, were asked to leave the property in the university area after a dispute with a landlord.

Social services and the police were involved in efforts to find them temporary lodgings for the night

More than 100 Romanians left Northern Ireland in June after racists targeted their south Belfast homes. After a period back in eastern Europe, a number of them returned to the city.

A police spokesman said officers had been at the property since early afternoon after being called to assist in a civil matter. He said police were trying to establish if any criminal offence had been committed.

South Belfast Assembly member Anna Lo said the incident was unfortunate.

"I would urge these people to co-operate with the police and social services to find themselves suitable alternative accommodation as soon as possible," she said.

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10 Comments

At 22:36 on 30 August 2009, seamas wrote:

Heather. Do you know what Roma immigrants are costing us as taxpayers? Do you know what budgets government agencies have to deal with foreign nationals and whether those budgets are over or under spent? Is your issue here really to do with money? Come on. My point about the local girl injured abroad was that she was treated decently by the people over there. Luckily no one over there wrote to the local media demanding that she be refused help.

At 00:16 on 29 August 2009, heather wrote:

ref seamus.. no seamus i do not think it is just racism ,, and i am most def not a racist in fact we are a mixed culture family ,, what i am referring to is the fact that this is a business for these people ,, i myself have witnessed these people being dropped off in castle street in belfast in a dark mercedes for their days work of begging in the streets of belfast .. now does that seem like some people down on their luck ??? i think not ,, its really all about how much sympathy people have for them ,, but to be honest seamus it is well played out and people are totally fed up with being harrassed in the city centre ,, and if that is racism it really needs to be defined ,,, as for the young girl ,,, her family had to make an appeal on utv for help to get her home ,,, it took a good christain person from here to finance the £21.000 to get her home ,, so yes we do live in a christian society ,, but there comes a time when enough is enough !!!

At 07:03 on 28 August 2009, seamas wrote:

No Heather, what matters is that these are EU citizens who have a right to freedom of movement within the EU. Lets not pretend that we’re motivated by a concern for own disadvantaged people. This is about racism pure and simple. These are people down on their luck who need us to help them. Are we a charitable Christian community or selfish xenophobes? And as for the little girl injured abroad, she was treated by the local health authority not refused because she was a foreigner.

At 19:20 on 27 August 2009, heather wrote:

ref seamus, the colour of skin does not bother me, but what does bother me is these people sitting in the city centre using their babies and young children to get money, a form of child abuse I reckon. And as for the cost of orange parades, its not the parades that cost so much its the protesters that seek to wreck their own community. The same could be said about the cost of the st pats day trouble, so i really dont think the orange and green comes into the situation of the roma people. People need educated as to the way these people live, when they get what they need here they move on, its time for the people here to realize that. It doesnt matter whether people are loyalist or not the fact is these people are takers nothing else!

At 11:33 on 27 August 2009, seamas wrote:

You're right Heather. That money could be spent on Orange parades rather than wasting it helping these people.

At 09:18 on 27 August 2009, seamas wrote:

I'll bet you Paul and Dave are two loyalists.

At 20:06 on 26 August 2009, steve wrote:

They should never have been admitted into this country in the first place.