Serbia: Bulldozers level Romani camp in Belgrade

The Mediafax press agency cites Agence-France Presse as reporting that at least 250 Romani families were removed last week from an encampment on the outskirts of the Serbian capital, Belgrade. Their settlement was subsequently destroyed. The Belgrade city hall is responsible for the eviction of thousands of Romani people.

Workers hired by a private firm loaded the Romani residents’ property onto trucks. Their shelters, made of cardboard, planks, and sheet metal, were then razed to the ground with bulldozers. Some of the Romani people were transported to their previous places of residence in southern Serbia, while others were moved into temporary “container” buildings on the outskirts of Belgrade.

Serbia, a country of 10 million, has one of the largest Romani populations in Europe. According to official records, there are 100 000 Romani inhabitants, but experts assume there may be actually almost half a million Romani people living in the Balkan state.