Ballymen's revolt. “For Monday night I have not slept at home,” says Dana, a Romanian from the city of Northern Ireland where there are anti-Romanian movements /”There are no anti-immigrant protests. They want us to leave”

The disorders of the North-Irish city Ballymen have sparked both fear and revolt among the Romanian community in this locality with about 30,000 people. A 38 -year -old Romanian who lives in the 9 -year -old Bally has told Hotnews what is the atmosphere in the city where Romanians work in slaughterhouses or in the bus factory.

• The violence broke out after two Romanian teenagers were accused of attempted rape. Since then, there have been several arson. Including the house where teenagers lived, along with their parents, was set on fire.
• “One of the family members told me that the police warned him that people are angry and have to leave because” if they come upon you, we cannot answer you. ”

On the Facebook group “Romanians in Ballymen”, which has 3,300 members, people tell that they are afraid for their lives. Others claim that the distinction between Romanians and Roma should be made. While the Romanians are the target of racist attacks from the northern-rlandes, they also launch racist attacks on the Roma.

The British television ITV News posted a comment in which he asked those who were affected by the riots in this city to tell them what happened.

“Here are the Romanians from Ballymena, write to… .II from Ballymena,” someone commented. “Why not try to speak with them in Romani Intead in Romanian. The Rapists have not Romanians,” commented someone else.

For my part, I asked for information to the Romanians there about what is happening in the city. “What happens these days is clear racism. And those who do it know very clearly the difference between the Romanians who are here for honest work and the others who came only for benefits and illegalities,” says a woman who recommends Bianca.

He says he lives in Ballymena for 15 years and “over the years there have been all kinds of illegalities committed by the locals. A year ago a 21-year-old girl was killed and all the protests were peaceful,” she accuses.

Someone else in the group offered to give me more details. He just asked me not to give him the whole name because he is afraid. It is called Dana, is 38 years old and lives in Ballymena for 9 years. It is originally from the Turzii Plain. He told me that there are thousands of Romanians living in this city. The woman also talks about tensions including in the community of Romanians.

“Here you cannot work illegally”

– What do you deal with in Ballymena?
– Dana: I work in a store, where we have Romanian, Polish, Slovak, Lithuanian, Bulgarian merchandise.

– Romanians who generally deal in Ballymen?
– Many work in chicken slaughterhouses, pigs, there are factories, such as a bus factory that hires many people. Many Romanians live in Belfast, which is 50 kilometers and works here.

– Are there many people work illegally?
– No one can work here illegally, because, since the UK is no longer in the EU, no one takes you to work if you have no documents to prove that you have this right. In the last period, many Roma came here who knew that Ballymen needed a workforce and applied for this status.

They came legally, through Dublin, and then they arrived here. But some interviews passed, answered some questions and the government decided to give them the right to work. Here are jobs, people find work.

– How did the whole scandal leave? So there were two young people who raped a local teenager…
– Yes, the rape happened on Saturday, June 7th. The girl, when she left her home, went to the police and said she had been sexually abused. And on Sunday the protest began, and the next day, on June 9, violence began.

“Young people between 15 and 20 years break houses and throw incendiary bottles”

– Who participates in these protests?
– They are young between 15 and 20 years, they are the ones who attack cars, break doors, break houses. You do not see anyone major, 21 years old, to break windows, to give their feet to throw an incendiary bottle as they threw themselves into the houses next to me.

– Are these protests directed only against Romanians or generally against immigrants?
– Only against the Romanians, they want to go home.

– Did you happen, have you been threatened?
– No, on the contrary, I have an Irish neighbor, three door near me, lives among the Romanians. Even yesterday he came to me and said he claims that he knows that in every nation there are kind of people, not all. He came and promised us he would try to protect us if there was something.

I haven't slept at home anyway on Monday night. I went to some friends because the protest was very violent on Monday. Everything they got in the way broke, set fire. The house that was the most destroyed was the one where it happened with the girl.

– But with the family that lived there what happened?
– The family left the city: some Saturday night, others on Sunday when the police came. Even one of the family members told me that the police warned him that people are angry and have to leave because “if they come upon you, we cannot answer you.”

In that house lived the parents of the children accused of rape and about 20 more people. They were not necessarily members of the family, there were too many people in that house and it was not ok. There were young people who made a scandal, they didn't work, they were on social aids.

I know the mother of children who are accused of rape. It was at home and because he didn't speak English I helped her twice to complete some papers. As far as he told me, they received the state house because he has a child with autism and did not pay rent. Instead, because it was a very large house, with 11 rooms, he put other tenants in the house. And this was illegal.

Now I do not condemn the Irish if they want to get us out of the country. I live with the fear that he will come over me in the house and make us Harakiri.

The rage of locals, fed with rumors about another sexual assault

– But why are the locals so upset? Is it still an isolated case, have there been other cases?
– They are people who, when you pass on the street, smile, greet you, stop the car and let you pass even if there is no pedestrian crossing. In general, they are educated people, I already know them because they have been here for many years.

So far they have accepted us, we had no problems, there were no wars between us. Now, there is talk here that two weeks ago there would have been a rape and the aggressor would have been Romanian. It would have happened in a park and people in the city said they didn't accept that anymore. This information would have been posted on the Internet, I say it's a rumor, I don't know if it's true or not.

– Did the police communicate anything about this second rape?
– I haven't heard. Only Romanians talk about it and they fear for their lives and say, “If these are upset, we have to leave with everyone here because they accept you and help you until a moment.

– The two who are accused of rape are arrested?
– Yes, they were taken to Belfast, and on July 2 they will bring them here to the Ballymen to the minor court.

“The protesters walk from one street to another”

– What is the mood among the Romanians in Ballymen? Do they want to leave?
– I know families who slept at the relatives in Dublin. They were very scared because the protesters walk from one street to another, generally gather after 7 o'clock in the evening. The protest begins peacefully but then becomes aggressive.

Today a family of Romanians with 15 people left.

– The police advised what to do?
-Yes, he urged us to avoid conflict areas. Last night because I slept elsewhere I was quieter, and then I entered the Internet and I was pleasantly surprised that he didn't let him enter this street. Because the night before they devastated everything and went to the house where the boys stayed and set them on.

– But no one lives there?
– No, no.

– What do you want to do? Do you want to leave the city until things are quiet?
– I hope he doesn't have to go, I'm waiting for things to calm down. Locals are not bad people. Street beats were again. On this street live and Romanians and Bulgarians still make a joke, the police often come.

The Irish are now looking at us all ugly. I have a neighbor who passed on the street and was spit. The boy is 20 years old goes to work and it does not seem normal for someone to draw the ponoas. Be afraid to dig a word that you are Romanian. All the Romanians in Ballymen are cataloged the same.

I make 5 minutes from home to the store and now go on the street and look at me strangely. We stop talking to each other, I have a neighbor who is from the Czech Republic, and the Irish comes with the car to see the house where it happened. And he looked at us ugly. That house is burned anyway, I don't even know how it stands.

Even today I gave another television interview here and asked me if we were the victims of racism. I told them that I do not think it is racism because in this country come daily planes with Romanians and other nationalities and nothing happens. But it is about people who do bad things and the Irish have been a little tired. I know they are right.

See below Ballymen's pictures following violent protests: