Up to 20 families moved to temporary accommodation after repeated attacks on their houses
Romanian families forced to flee their homes in Belfast because of racist attacks have been temporarily rehoused, but many said they wanted to leave Northern Ireland.
More than 100 Romanians had to seek shelter in a church hall last night after suffering repeated intimidation, including bottles being thrown through their windows.
The families, who are members of the Roma ethnic group, were given shelter at the O-Zone sports complex in the city today, and Stormont's social development minister, Margaret Ritchie, said they were to be offered emergency lodgings tonight. It is understood that they were later moved to student accommodation in the Queen's University area, which has been made available for a week.
Gordon Brown condemned the attacks, saying: "I hope the authorities are able to take all the action necessary to protect them." Belfast's lord mayor, Naomi Long, said the attacks had brought shame on the city.
A Romanian mother of two sheltering at the O-Zone said the families were terrified. The woman, who gave her first name, Maria, said everyone was adamant they wanted to return to Romania. She said attacks had been intensifying over the past two weeks, with youths threatening her and her children. Other people spoke of men armed with guns telling them to leave the country or face being shot.
"We are OK, we are safe here now," she said. "But we want to go home because right now we are not safe here [in Northern Ireland]. We want to go back home to Romania, everybody right now does. I want to go home because I have here two kids and I want my kids to be safe."
Belfast's small community of Romanians grew noticeably grew about eight months ago. The streets from which the Romanians fled are on the border between the city's multi-racial university district and the loyalist working class Village/Donegall Road area. On Monday night, a number of young men from the Village area threw bottles and stones at an anti-racist protest on the Lisburn Road called to show solidarity with the Romanians. The mob chanted Combat 18 slogans, although security sources in Northern Ireland said there was no evidence the neo-Nazi terror group had organised cells in the Greater Belfast area.
The two main loyalist paramilitary groups, the UVF and UDA, have condemned the attacks and said none of their members were involved.
The deputy first minister, Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness, said the attacks had been carried out by "racist criminals within our society who are unrepresentative of the vast majority of the people of Belfast".
Anna Lo, an assembly member for the Alliance party in south Belfast, said the families were "very frightened" and many would prefer to return to their homeland rather than remain in Belfast.
"They are really very frightened," she said. "The women, when they were talking to me yesterday, they were really upset, tears in their eyes and said, 'You know we love it here, we'd like to live here, but we're too scared.'"
Some within the Village/Donegall Road community have tried to make a stand against the aggressors. A poster on a boarded-up window at 14 Belgravia Avenue, a three-storey house occupied until Monday by several Romanian families, read: "Village says No to racist attacks." A similar poster nearby was torn down by a woman on her way to work, who declined to comment.
Guardian
Showing posts with label Stormont. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stormont. Show all posts
June 17, 2009
July 03, 2007
MLA condemns BNP's bid to recruit members in Northern Ireland
The British National Party is planning a recruitment drive in Northern Ireland during this year's July 12 celebrations, the Assembly heard today.
MLA Danny Kennedy (UUP, Newry Armagh) said Northern Ireland did not need the BNP`s `hate-mongering` brand of right-wing racism after decades of locally-grown conflict. He was speaking during a debate on racial equality at Stormont.
"I have said to them that this isn`t the kind of imported hate-mongering that we want or need in Northern Ireland," he said.
There have been a string of attacks on racial minorities and the Assembly heard that incidents were on the increase as migrants flood in from eastern and southern Europe. Today`s motion was tabled by the Alliance Party and Mr Kennedy said he backed efforts to tackle the blight.
"I believe that there are indication that the BNP, members of the British Nationalist Party are going to try and actively recruit in Northern Ireland over this year`s July 12th celebrations," he said. "I very much condemn these efforts, I welcome the indications from the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland which resolutely condemn and oppose this move."
Police recorded 936 racial incidents last year - more than double the total of two years previously.
There have been attacks on migrants` housing in Belfast, Craigavon, Dungannon and other parts of the north. Large numbers have been targeted after arriving to work in local hospitals, the catering and agricultural industries and food processing factories.
Peter Weir (DUP, North Down) said there needed to be zero-tolerance of xenophobia.
"I think that there`s a very clear signal which should be sent out by this Assembly - that the type of hatred that is promulgated by the BNP has no place in our society," he said. "I trust and hope that whenever the BNP do their recruiting exercise they fall on stony ground because I think the vast majority of people in Northern Ireland are hostile to that sort of behaviour, but we have got to realise that there`s endemic levels of racism within our society and this is demonstrated at a very practical level by the high numbers of racial incidents that take place."
The Alliance Party is calling for the Office of the First and Deputy First Minister to ensure that the second implementation action plan of the Racial Equality Strategy is effective. A Sinn Fein amendment to the motion calling for detailed official plans for 2008-2011 for achieving equality was passed unanimously.
That marginalisationwas highlighted in 2005 when a Ukrainian migrant worker had both legs amputated after suffering frostbite in Northern Ireland. Oksana Sukhanova, 27, suffered horrific injuries while sleeping rough in County Antrim during the freezing temperatures over the New Year period.
Martina Anderson (Sinn Fein, Foyle) said the Police Service of Northern Ireland needed to do more to tackle the issue.
"We know that there`s much evidence to suggest that some loyalists are behind a significant proportion of racist incidents and there`s been a failure in unionist parties to address this," she added. "This state, which is now branded as the racist capital of Europe, has its own autonomous racist logic which we now have the chance, the obligation, to address through the Good Friday Agreement and the Assembly with the work we are doing with the Bill of Rights and move forward towards a society which respects all traditions."
The police have taken a number of measures including publishing welcome packs for migrants, and Tom Elliott (UUP, Fermanagh, South Tyrone) said unionists had been at the forefront of tackling the problem. He said his party had been engaging with the police for years in local scrutiny bodies to clamp down on racism.
Anna Lo (Alliance Party, South Belfast) said there were problems with the Racial Equality Strategy.
"The delay in publishing the strategy, given the dramatic increase in inward migration in Northern Ireland over the last few years, has caused concerns that the strategy is already out of date. There was disappointment too that the Strategy only commits Government departments and not all statutory bodies and the wider community, including the business sector, to maximise the effect of the strategy in promoting racial equality."
The first joint reception held by First Minister Ian Paisley (DUP, North Antrim) and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness (Sinn Fein, Mid-Ulster) was for minorities and Mr McGuinness said they were committed to legislating on the matter.
He has ordered a review of five key policy objectives and sent his junior minister to the Racial Equality Forum of civic representatives to gather information. He also allowed additional time before publishing the racial equality action plan to consult.
"We are convinced that those discussions will lead to a more strategic, focused and long-term action plan for racial equality across all departments," he said.
Dolores Kelly (SDLP, Upper Bann) said she was horrified at reports of swastikas in Belfast in 2007.
"There is a very clear need for all the limbs of government to work properly together for this to work," she said. "The Housing Executive, our Social Services and our Equality Commission must all be at the top of their games. There is, on a number of levels, a great chance for us to learn about co-operation here and the success that it can bring."
UTV
MLA Danny Kennedy (UUP, Newry Armagh) said Northern Ireland did not need the BNP`s `hate-mongering` brand of right-wing racism after decades of locally-grown conflict. He was speaking during a debate on racial equality at Stormont.
"I have said to them that this isn`t the kind of imported hate-mongering that we want or need in Northern Ireland," he said.
There have been a string of attacks on racial minorities and the Assembly heard that incidents were on the increase as migrants flood in from eastern and southern Europe. Today`s motion was tabled by the Alliance Party and Mr Kennedy said he backed efforts to tackle the blight.
"I believe that there are indication that the BNP, members of the British Nationalist Party are going to try and actively recruit in Northern Ireland over this year`s July 12th celebrations," he said. "I very much condemn these efforts, I welcome the indications from the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland which resolutely condemn and oppose this move."
Police recorded 936 racial incidents last year - more than double the total of two years previously.
There have been attacks on migrants` housing in Belfast, Craigavon, Dungannon and other parts of the north. Large numbers have been targeted after arriving to work in local hospitals, the catering and agricultural industries and food processing factories.
Peter Weir (DUP, North Down) said there needed to be zero-tolerance of xenophobia.
"I think that there`s a very clear signal which should be sent out by this Assembly - that the type of hatred that is promulgated by the BNP has no place in our society," he said. "I trust and hope that whenever the BNP do their recruiting exercise they fall on stony ground because I think the vast majority of people in Northern Ireland are hostile to that sort of behaviour, but we have got to realise that there`s endemic levels of racism within our society and this is demonstrated at a very practical level by the high numbers of racial incidents that take place."
The Alliance Party is calling for the Office of the First and Deputy First Minister to ensure that the second implementation action plan of the Racial Equality Strategy is effective. A Sinn Fein amendment to the motion calling for detailed official plans for 2008-2011 for achieving equality was passed unanimously.
That marginalisationwas highlighted in 2005 when a Ukrainian migrant worker had both legs amputated after suffering frostbite in Northern Ireland. Oksana Sukhanova, 27, suffered horrific injuries while sleeping rough in County Antrim during the freezing temperatures over the New Year period.
Martina Anderson (Sinn Fein, Foyle) said the Police Service of Northern Ireland needed to do more to tackle the issue.
"We know that there`s much evidence to suggest that some loyalists are behind a significant proportion of racist incidents and there`s been a failure in unionist parties to address this," she added. "This state, which is now branded as the racist capital of Europe, has its own autonomous racist logic which we now have the chance, the obligation, to address through the Good Friday Agreement and the Assembly with the work we are doing with the Bill of Rights and move forward towards a society which respects all traditions."
The police have taken a number of measures including publishing welcome packs for migrants, and Tom Elliott (UUP, Fermanagh, South Tyrone) said unionists had been at the forefront of tackling the problem. He said his party had been engaging with the police for years in local scrutiny bodies to clamp down on racism.
Anna Lo (Alliance Party, South Belfast) said there were problems with the Racial Equality Strategy.
"The delay in publishing the strategy, given the dramatic increase in inward migration in Northern Ireland over the last few years, has caused concerns that the strategy is already out of date. There was disappointment too that the Strategy only commits Government departments and not all statutory bodies and the wider community, including the business sector, to maximise the effect of the strategy in promoting racial equality."
The first joint reception held by First Minister Ian Paisley (DUP, North Antrim) and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness (Sinn Fein, Mid-Ulster) was for minorities and Mr McGuinness said they were committed to legislating on the matter.
He has ordered a review of five key policy objectives and sent his junior minister to the Racial Equality Forum of civic representatives to gather information. He also allowed additional time before publishing the racial equality action plan to consult.
"We are convinced that those discussions will lead to a more strategic, focused and long-term action plan for racial equality across all departments," he said.
Dolores Kelly (SDLP, Upper Bann) said she was horrified at reports of swastikas in Belfast in 2007.
"There is a very clear need for all the limbs of government to work properly together for this to work," she said. "The Housing Executive, our Social Services and our Equality Commission must all be at the top of their games. There is, on a number of levels, a great chance for us to learn about co-operation here and the success that it can bring."
UTV
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