The Romanians Gypsies attacked in Belfast subject to extremist attacks during he last seven days have been moved by Northern Irish authorities to a leisure centre, where they will be kept until their situation is solved. A Romanian Consulate representative is meeting them today.

The British authorities are looking for funds for repatriating most of the Romanian Romas. Gordon Brown spoke against the violence in Belfast, urging the authorities to take all measures necessary to protect the abused Romanian families.

Romanian Ambassador in London, Ion Jinga, declared for HotNews.ro that the Romanian authorities were working together with the British, trying to find a solution.

"Romanian Embassy in London firmly condemns any act of extremism. We got in touch with the British Foreign Ministry, to whom we explained our concern and we asked its representatives to take all the necessary measures, so that this situation will never occur again. We're also in touch with the authorities in Belfast: the police, local council, Romanian local organisations and the church that hosted the Romanians. The Romanian Embassy took action at its own initiative. A consulate representative is going to be in Belfast today", Ambassador Jinga declared.

He went on to say it was "absolutely regrettable that Romanian citizens were the object of such attacks. The Romanian community in Great Britain is well integrated. I've been in Cardiff last week, where a Romanian church has been opened to the public. I found a small community of 100 or 200 people, who were living in perfectly normal conditions. The community in Boston is the same. And there is a serious Romanian community in Scotland, too."

Most of the 115 Romanian Roma citizens could be repatriated, if they request it. The British authorities are currently looking for funds. Trusted sources told HotNews.ro in the region of Lisburn Road in Belfast there lived around 200 Romanian Gypsies, living in ill conditions in forsaken properties. According to the sources, these Gypsies survived through begging on the streets and breaking into cash machines.

Lord David Trimble, member of the Conservative party and of the House of Lords, a politician from Northern Ireland who won the Nobel prize for Peace, told HotNews.ro that this was not the first time Romanians were subject to such violent attacks in Northern Ireland. In his opinion, The Romanian Gypsies have been subject to the actions of a loyalist paramilitary group.

Lord Trimble did not dismiss the idea of existent tensions between the locals and Eastern Europeans, but he did not believe the economic crisis was to blame. He argued with suspicion by stating that the paramilitary loyalists attacked members of the Chinese community as well in the past. "It's a hangover of the problems we have had in Northern Ireland. Some people are having difficulties in moving away from the paramilitary", he said, underlining that this was his suspicion and not verified facts. When asked if he returned to Romania if he were to be in the shoes of the Romanians abused in Belfast, he replied that he would report to the Police and demand protection.

UPDATE Romanian from Belfast: "Even if the Northern Ireland neo-Nazi gesture is blameable, our Gypsies have brought this to themselves!"

HotNews.ro contacted a Romanian community representative in Belfast, who knows in greater detail the aspects that lead to the serious conflicts between the young neo-Nazi groups from Northern Ireland capital and the Romanian Gypsies.

Paul T. is 32 and has been living for 8 years in Belfast, together with his wife. "When we got here in 2001, there have been some problems the Romanian Gypsies created. But in he last 2-3 years, since there is no need for visas and we joined the EU, their number grew considerably. There's no harm in this, but they were remarked for begging, breaking into cash machines and other similar activities", Paul says.

"I know the area incident very well. Practically, the 100 persons the press talks about were living in three houses. You can imagine how crowded was in there. I don't believe that all of they were begging or robbing. Maybe some of them have cleaning or other low skilled jobs, but they all live together. In the last three months I happened to pass by third houses three times. And on each occasion I could see groups of 10-15 Romanian 'guys' outside, listening to manele (popular Gypsy music) very loudly on their mobiles, surrounded by sn-flower seed shells. I'm trying to say that they are very visible", Paul added.