Who’d have thought we’d see bigotry and intolerance in this part of the world.

Shameful episode.

I am sure Romania is, in many ways, horrible and that there are very good reasons for moving. But I do rather wonder what it was about Belfast that attracted them…

There have been suspicions that a loyalist paramilitary group is involved in the violence, but this has been denied, our correspondent added.

My first thoughts too but I’ll wait to hear if it’ll be confirmed or denied.

I am sure Romania is, in many ways, horrible and that there are very good reasons for moving. But I do rather wonder what it was about Belfast that attracted them…

Indeed BD, you’d have to wonder. But…
I’m no great fan of the town, but it’s long been a place where people could get on with life and do well for themselves if they wanted to (and weren’t brought up in the areas where sectarianism was (and still is) rife)* During the eighties and nineties, there grew a burgeoning middle class that did very well for itself in spite of the “troubles”, sent its children to mixed religion schools and quietly did very well in a highly subsidised corner of the UK. Belfast is far from the “beirut” it’s portrayed as sometimes.

* Pardon me, went a bit mad with the parentheses there…

Well, some of them can be difficult to live near as parts of Romanian community doesn’t want to recognise the meaning of “private property”.
We had them when I was a kid and the level of theft was impossible to imagine. They would steal whatever wasn’t immovable, bricks, old rusty bucket, chopped wood, bikes, clothes hanging in the garden to dry, anything. They were also very violent and disrespectful of women (until one of them got beaten up by my mate’s sister). Then they tried causing damage to our cars, smash windows in our houses, they stole and skinned my little bro’s pussycat (we did get the guy who did it, sadly we weren’t allowed to go eye-for-eye). My motorbike was nicked by a Romanian family (recovered by the police after some 12 hrs it was a wreck), as was a couple of my bikes.
The Romanian girls weren’t much better. On top of stealing and violence they were complete sluts.
I’m struggling to feel sorry for them.

judging by the dislike of immigrants sometimes expressed on this forum im surprised this sort of thing isnt seen more often in the UK

although i appreciate that bitching on your computer or voting ukip isnt the same as lobbing bricks through a window or beating up pregnant women

‘Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, who has met with the families, said the attacks were a “totally shameful episode”. ‘

unfecking believable……………. 😉

I’ll just put the kettle on…

Well, ton, like it or not, he’s the deputy first minister. What do you expect him to say? “Ah for ****’s sake, this is childsplay compared to the old days. What are they whinging about?”.

‘”We need a collective effort to face down these criminals in society who are quite clearly intent on preying on vulnerable women and children,” he said. ‘

and bombing the **** out of the country killing and maiming thousands was ok then martin…………….

I would like to hear the other side of the story TBH. What have the local population had to put up with? Why have they started these attacks?

If they’re completely unprovoked then it’s shameful. If, on the other hand, the Romanians have been living up to their stereotype and behaving as they do in my city then that’s quite a different matter.

Ton, I take it you are trolling?

I live pretty close to the area where the Lithuanian girl was cut up last year. I have got to know a few of the so-called migrant workers,I teach their kids, and they are all terrified of the Romanians.I am not saying this group are all the same as that, but it would be interesting to hear the background.Especially as they are in an area of Belfast where people tend not to be shrinking violets when it comes to dealing with local “problems”

There are several issues here

1. The Romanians are really disliked in N.I. by everyone including other ‘minorities’
2. Your dealing with a culture which struggles to get on with each other – so how the heck do you think they can get on with ‘ethnic minorities’?

Belfast people are not racists – they just hate everyone equally 😆

Are some ppl are confusing those from the country of Romania and those from the Romani community. The latter are not Romanians.

Unless you mean Romulans? Now despite been fictional, I defo wouldn’t want one of those as a neighbour.

i dunno some romulans arent so bad….

I think people mean Romanians – with reported crime like this

http://www.sundaymercury.net/news/crime-news/2008/10/04/swimsuit-wearing-male-thieves-target-birmingham-stores-66331-21966730/

I wasn’t meaning the Romani.I was meaning the well organised gangs of Romanians who come here for all the wrong reasons. Jings, starting to sound like a Daily Mail reader.

Al…………..i was, sorry forgot this 😉

Good stuff, carry on!

I think the problem here is that many people from Ireland find it difficult to feel empathy with immigrants. I mean is not as if the Irish have a long history of being immigrants themselves. So I guess many in Ireland can’t see why anyone would want to leave their home country to start a new life elsewhere.

BTW, the links between Loyalist and the BNP are very strong indeed. From just a couple of weeks ago :

BNP’s Scots fundraiser is criminal with links to Loyalist killer

And oh yeah, I worked with some Romanians last year. I found them to be extremely helpful, and none of them stole anything from me. Unlike those English cleaners who stole my block plane off me last thursday – 60 quid for a new one, scumbags.

When times get hard any group will turn on a minority group. Particulary one that does not integrate or has some bad individuals within it.

Thats just human nature and its been repeated throughout history. When society is rich groups like the BNP are non existant, now, as the economy has gone sour they have even won seats in europe.

I think most people who find times difficult have to try quite hard not to react like that. It will take quite some effort from the government/police/community leaders to sort this problem out.

I doubt they will, the minority will just leave or integrate.

Am I reading this right? Are STW members actually seeking to justify racist attacks on families, which incidentally extend beyond Romainian, (it just so happens that this latest one is on a particularly large group and is therefore being reported more widely).

Tell me it is not so……

We need a comment from Nick Griffin to fully understand the action.

BTW, the links between Loyalist and the BNP are very strong indeed.

+1

IIRC they used to be good mates with that slightly right wing group C18 as well and were heavily involved in a protest at a football match in Dublin a few years back that got just a little out of hand.

I think the problem here is that many people from Ireland find it difficult to feel empathy with immigrants. I mean is not as if the Irish have a long history of being immigrants themselves. So I guess many in Ireland can’t see why anyone would want to leave their home country to start a new life elsewhere.

While the emigration from the south (or the Free State for the Telegraph readers) has always been an economical migration, emigration from Northern Ireland has been, for many, to get away from “the troubles” or for a fair proportion of the community, to go somewhere where they won’t be judged on having a slightly gaelic sounding name and therefore being Catholic and part of the nationalist community. I’ll have to dig out the figures but I’m guessing that NI has never suffered from emigration to the extent that the ROI has.

That is not to say that immigrants have not been treated badly in the ROI. The Irish have little of which to be proud either in recent years since becoming a net importer of labour. It took a few years of adjustment for the Irish to finally have brown people living and working in their midst, but things are much better for immigrants now than at first. Behind all the initial hostility, there was always the feeling that “well, we’ve gone all over the world to live, so it’s kind of our turn now.” Oh and the Catholic church is delighted with all the extra eastern Europeans attending mass every Sunday.

Loyalist paramilitaries have had a record of thuggery that make the BNP seem quite gentle (outside of paramilitary sectarian violence) and have long waited for a community on which to vent their frustrations. I guess they thought that Romanian immigrants might be an easier target than others who have learned to fight back.

Unlike those English cleaners who stole my block plane off me last thursday

Now, that is way beyond the pale…nice one was it? Nothing like a nice plane and nothing like having kit nicked!!

Are these people gypsies then or non-gypsy Romanians? If you have ever seen some of the gypsy villages in Romania then you might understand why Belfast would seem a desirable place to move to.

I have never seen anything like it – unimaginable levels of squalor and poverty. However the people we were with were terrified of getting a flat tyre on the car as we passed through, because they said we would definitely be robbed, beaten, and possibly killed.

Everyone you encounter in Romania seems to be massively racist against gypsies, but the way they explain it is that the gypsies want no part of Romanian society and have no scruples about robbing and cheating as much as they can out of everyone. It’s tricky to say where the truth lies or what you can do about the situation.

Everyone you encounter in Romania seems to be massively racist against gypsies, but the way they explain it is that the gypsies want no part of Romanian society and have no scruples about robbing and cheating as much as they can out of everyone

When you create an underclass to the extent that has been created for the Romany peoples of that part of the world, is it any wonder that they repay society in the way that they do?

When you create an underclass to the extent that has been created for the Romany peoples of that part of the world, is it any wonder that they repay society in the way that they do?

Trouble is once that underclass is created it takes a heck of a lot to undo it. Efforts to try to un-create it will often be met with hostility from within that group and more often that not from the groups that feel they are losing out to such efforts.

To the ‘prolitariat’ the answer is often blindingly obvious but to the ‘intelectuals’ the ‘prolitariat’ are often part of the problem. Whatever ideas you come up with will not work as some $hit will tear them down and ensure any success is limited for a number of reasons.

Perhaps the best policy is to keep a lid on it and just concentrate on the kids in one form or another?

On the news earlier they mentioned that attacks/tension increased after the NI/Poland footie game in March which had all the violence after the game… Racists not being too discriminating about exactly what sort of foreigner they go after.

errr my bit about N.Irish people not being racists as they hate everyone equally stands.

The little ‘Polish’ problem started in Witherspoons by a hostile Polish mob and spilled out on to Ormeau Avenue – If it had been any other match it would have been called hooliganism

By way of demonstration a mate was walking down the lower Lisburn Road a few years back when he was jumped and held at knife point for ‘being a ****’ after some time he explained to his assailants the wonders of a holiday in Greece and something called a TAN! Ya really can’t make this sh1t up!

Another guy I knew was walking along the Antrim Road one night when a gang of youths jumped him and one screamed ‘Are you a Protestant or a Catholic?!’ my mate calmly said ‘Neither, I’m Jewish!’ total silence for a few minutes before one of the thugs asked ‘are you a protestant or catholic Jew?!’ – they beat him up anyway.

With that level of racial understanding its hard to imagine a less accepting society….

Belfast people are not racists – they just hate everyone equally

Yep, I’ve worked with about 20 Northern Ireland chaps in the UK and this is fairly close to my experience. If you’re not *exactly* like them, i.e., short, fat, bad eyesight and totally committed to hating the brits… then hate comes first. When I worked in Belfast (an extremely unpleasant experience – although admittedly, at the height of the troubles), I heard racist views that were worse than those I’ve heard in Spain. It’s *that* bad.

Samuri

I have to point out at this stage that I come from Belfast, don’t hate the Brits and prefer to get on with people – life’s too short

That said – I know what you mean 😕

brings to mind that wonderful moment in Father Ted…

“I don’t care who you hate, as long as I can hate the Greeks! **** Greeks – they invented gayness”

judging by the dislike of immigrants sometimes expressed on this forum im surprised this sort of thing isnt seen more often in the UK

LOL – this forum contains some of the most liberal leftie ooooh so PC contributors on the net……IMHO of course 😉

When you create an underclass to the extent that has been created for the Romany peoples of that part of the world, is it any wonder that they repay society in the way that they do?

Yeah I’m sure that’s true to an extent, the way it was explained to me though, is that the Romany don’t really really recognise/accept the concept of modern states/countries, and don’t see themselves as being part of wider society at all. I don’t know how true that is but I imagine it would be quite hard to integrate people into society who feel that way.

Some worrying generalisations going on here, or am I in danger of coming over a bit too PC? I did some voluntary work in an orphanage in Romania about twenty years ago, and found, as is always the case, that some of the people I worked with were sound, and some (mainly the ones that had been doing ok under the old regime)were total cocks.
I recently managed a nursing home for a Jewish guy who ripped me off for two months salary – does this mean that I should mistrust all Jews?
You cant judge an entire race or religion just because some of them act like a***holes – get a grip, please.

….Romany don’t really really recognise/accept the concept of modern states/countries

…..although many are quite happy to embrace certain parts of the culture eg. benefit handouts and free healthcare but they haven’t quite come to terms with things like income tax or National insurance 8)

Mitch, there would seem to be the suggestion in a number of posts above that the Romanians are not making any friends, so I think it seems fair to be mistrustful until proven otherwise.The only generalisations I can see are about the Irish.