Thousands marched in Slovenia on Tuesday to demand radical public-safety measures from the government after a man died in an attack blamed on a member of the Roma minority.
The attack took place in the southern city of Novo Mesto, where tension with the local Roma community has escalated over the past year amid an increase in petty crime and violence that is often blamed on the minority group.
Several thousand demonstrators gathered in the city centre, many wearing black T-shirts reading: “We are all Aco”, referring to Ales Sutar, the victim of Saturday’s attack.
“The government has abandoned us,” Benjamin Marcetic, a 24-year-old hotel receptionist, told AFP.
The crowd loudly booed liberal Prime Minister Robert Golob when he arrived to address the gathering, with protesters shouting: “Resign!”
Protestors called on him to implement “radical measures” to restore local security promised in the wake of the deadly incident.
Golob gave a speech promising a series of measures apparently targeting the Roma community.
These included giving police the power to search houses without a warrant, expanding their authority in “high-risk areas” and imposing stricter conditions on Roma access to social benefits.
“The state institutions have failed, they have not ensured safety for citizens,” Golob said of the incident, which led to the resignation of the interior and justice ministers.
“This will be a breaking point for Slovenia,” he said, vowing a bill with the new measures would be sent to parliament.
– Roma living standards –
Darko Rudas, a member of the Slovenian Roma Council, who condemned the attack, said such measures were unlikely to de-escalate tensions.
“They will only increase anti-Roma sentiment,” Rudas told AFP.
He accused some local authorities of failing to ensure adequate treatment and living standards for the Roma.
But he added that authorities in other places have reached out to the minority community, and that incidents there are rare.
According to the Roma Council, around 15,000 Roma people live in Slovenia. Many of them live in about 100 settlements, with only a third of those having basic services such as water and electricity.
The Council fears that reignited tensions surrounding the Roma might be exploited in the run-up to legislative elections in the spring.
Tuesday’s rally was called by Novo Mesto mayor Gregor Macedoni.
Photos of the victim were hung throughout the city.
Rights group Amnesty International condemned the attack, but warned that it should not be used to “foment intolerance towards members of (the Roma) community”.
Golob earlier announced the deployment of additional police forces, including riot police, to Novo Mesto and the Dolenjska region.
He denounced years of neglect of the Roma minority, promising additional social programmes to integrate them.
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