Gypsy harassing mars Slovenia Europe image

AMBRUS, Slovenia, Nov. 13 (UPI) -- Slovenia has given in to demands by local residents and moved a Gypsy family some 30 miles away from the village that sparked the protests.

The Gypsy family, including 14 children, was forced to leave their two brick houses and a group of shanties on the edge of the village of Ambrus, close to Novo Mesto in southeastern Slovenia, The New York Times reported Monday.

Late in October, several hundred Ambrus villagers and other from nearby threatened to kill the Gypsies unless the government moved them away.

Riot police prevented violence and the government moved the Gypsy family to a former military barracks outside Novo Mesto, not far from the border with Croatia.

A European Roma (Gypsy) Rights Center official condemned the Slovenian government move as a serious violation of the basic civil rights, the Times said.

Rights groups officials criticized the Slovenian government for forcibly removing Gypsies, calling it one of the most serious incidents in Europe in the past 10 years. The groups expressed fears other neighborhoods may demand eviction of Gypsy communities, the newspaper said.

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