Romanians take refuge in Belfast after attacks

Agence France-Presse

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The families, including one with a five-day-old baby girl, spent Tuesday night in the makeshift shelter in Belfast after an attack on an anti-racism rally Monday at which youths made Nazi salutes and threw bottles.

On Wednesday, they were moved to a nearby leisure center amid fears of further attacks. "Trouble was brewing for a few days," Pastor Malcolm Morgan, whose church gave the families refuge, told ITV television. "There have been stones thrown and windows smashed. It is a small group of racist thugs."

Some of the Romanians are now packing up to return to their homeland.

"I just want to go home now," said one mother, who did not give her name. "I feel very bad because I don't have a home now, I have a baby and it's not nice. I don't feel good here anymore."

Police were called in to help volunteer organizations move the families into the church hall. The violence has been strongly condemned by local politicians.

"These kind of ugly scenes are totally unacceptable," said Belfast Lord Mayor Naomi Long. "A small minority of people have sadly taken away from an event which had been organized by the local community to show solidarity for their Romanian neighbors, and to express their abhorrence at their homes being subjected to racist attacks."