The Romani, sometimes called gypsies, a term they do not like, often find themselves at odds with other citizens, not just in Slovakia, but all over Europe. The Romani do not assimilate, which causes friction with those who believe everybody who lives in France should strive to be French, those in Slovakia should strive to be Slovak, etc. Because the Romani often make little effort to adopt the culture of the larger country, they isolate themselves, and are isolated in turn by the majority population. They tend to live in their own neighborhoods, most of which we would regard as ghettos, and they don't allow outsiders to enter. When the police enter a Romani neighborhood to make an arrest, there is usually trouble, as in the incident described here. I know some people in Slovakia, including someone who was the mayor of a small town, and they figured out the best way to deal with the Romani was to let them work out their own problems with as little interference as possible. This meant they turned a blind eye to petty crimes, domestic violence, etc. so they wouldn't be sending the police into Romani neighborhoods more than absolutely necessary. In turn, the Romani kept a low profile and didn't cause trouble for the townspeople. That seems to be the way the Romani preferred it, although it grated on some of the locals that they weren't subject to the same authority as everyone else, and there were complaints about "special privileges" and that sort of thing.

It would be great to hear from more Europeans on the reality of this issue. I think that we will hear opinions from both sides, but it would give us a bigger picture of the actual situation instead of just going on biased news reports.

Dumb question, but do many Romani have internet access? It would be very interesting to hear their first hand accounts as well.

There are some measures taken on higher (EU) levels to counteract it, but the progress is way to slow...