Mass raids on Roma communities show how Europe is recasting racial discrimination as crime prevention and public order.


Jonathan Lee is a Romani activist from Wales, working at the European Roma Rights Centre.
Mass raids on Roma communities show how Europe is recasting racial discrimination as crime prevention and public order.

Europe’s courts refuse to prosecute police officers who abuse Roma even when their crimes are caught on video.
![In March 2009, police officers in Kosice, Slovakia filmed themselves threatening and racially abusing six Romani children in a police station. In February, a City Court acquitted the accused officers for the third time, citing inconclusive evidence [Facebook, Romea/Screengrab]](https://aljazeeranews.edgeone.app/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/romachildrenabuse-1712758726.jpg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
As the new Italian government emboldens fascists, the EU must not turn a blind eye to the Romani people’s victimisation.

For Roma, Italy’s so-called ‘Nomad Emergency’ never really ended, it just became invisible.
![A pre-fabricated home with Police tape blocking entry is seen in an official Roma camp in Rome, Italy June 27, 2018 [Tony Gentile/Reuters]](https://aljazeeranews.edgeone.app/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/RTS1UFHM.jpg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
The coronavirus pandemic exacerbated the ugly, systematic state violence against Romani people.
