Thousands marched in Slovenia’s southern city of Novo Mesto on Tuesday to demand “radical” government measures to ensure regional security after a man died in an attack attributed to a member of the Roma minority.

Tensions with the local Roma community have escalated in Novo Mesto over the last 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, with many wearing black t-shirts reading “We are all Aco”, referring to Ales Sutar, the victim of Saturday’s attack, AFP journalists saw.

Tuesday’s rally was called by Gregor Macedoni, the mayor of Novo Mesto, as photos of the victim were hung throughout the city.

“The government has abandoned us,” Benjamin Marcetic, a 24-year-old hotel receptionist, told AFP.

Protestors called on liberal Prime Minister Robert Golob to implement “radical measures” to restore local security promised in the wake of the deadly incident, which led to the resignation of the interior and justice ministers.

But such measures are unlikely to help de-escalate tensions, said Darko Rudas, a member of the Slovenian Roma Council, who condemned the attack.

“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 other localities have reached out to the minority community, and incidents there are rare.

According to the Roma Council, some 15,000 Roma people live in Slovenia. Many of them live in about 100 settlements, with only a third of those having basic infrastructure like water and electricity access.

The Council fears that reignited tensions surrounding the minority might be exploited in the run-up to the legislative elections in the spring.

Human rights group Amnesty International condemned the incident in a statement sent to AFP, but warned “it should not be attributed to the Roma community as a whole” or used to “foment intolerance towards members of its community.”

Golob announced the deployment of additional police forces, including riot police, to Novo Mesto and the Dolenjska region, while denouncing years of neglect regarding the Roma minority, promising additional social programmes to integrate them.