Fundación Secretariado Gitano

Roma boy fell into a coma after being attacked in Paris [editar]

• International

A 16- year-old boy lay in a coma in a hospital after being abducted from a shantytown and beaten last Friday 13^th, apparently in retaliation for supposed thefts he committed in a nearby district

FSG deplores these acts of violence that seem to have a racist and anti-Roma content. These acts evidence the need to take steps to put to an end racist and xenophobic speeches which are proliferating around Europe.

We recognize the words of the principal political leaders, François Hollande and Manuel Valls, but we demand the maximum involvement of all politicians and media leaders to cease hate speeches that build a negative image of Roma population and promote discrimination and rejection.

We wish to appeal to the cooperation of citizens to prevent hate climates that incite racist acts and aggressions. Social awareness to encourage people to find solutions to conflicts in the rule of law is needed. We hope that a fast and decisive action by the police and court is carrying out to clarify the acts and take the necessary actions.

Investigations point out that the teenager, of Rumanian origin, lived with his family in an abandoned house. He was kidnapped and taken by force by a dozen of people that hit him until he was unconscious. He was left in a shopping cart and abandoned in the highway.

President Holland and Prime Minister Manuel Valls have condemned the aggression and the have said that everything possible will be done to bring the culprits to justice. Nevertheless, no one has been arrested yet. 

Several declarations of NGO and public representatives have been made. French NGOs have denounced the increasing of violence against the 17.000 Roma from Eastern Europe living in France- half of them children. Forced abductions and setting camps on fire continue, and the degradation of the image of Roma people is being spread. Socialist French government, that promised the inclusion of most vulnerable and needed populations, has chosen to continue with the line followed by the former executive of Nicolas Sarkozy. 

François Hollande, presidente de Francia