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Discrimination and the Roma Community 2014
He spoke to them in a very unfriendly way and they responded by saying that they really needed to arrive
as soon as possible as they were already late. They then told him that if he didn’t know how to take them
to their destination, they needed to get out and find another taxi. He said that was fine with him but that
they still had to pay him, and then added: “You people are always going to very strange places.” They
asked him what he meant, i.e. if he was referring to “Gypsies”, and then informed him that their destination
was in the city centre.
They asked him to let them out of the taxi and told him he was being rude and that if he didn’t know how to
get them to their destination, it was unfair to try to charge them anything. Nevertheless, they paid the taxi driver
and got out of the taxi. Once they were on the sidewalk, the driver threw the money they had just paid him
out the window.
This made them feel awful and, on top of that, the cab driver’s prejudice made them arrive late to the event.
9.
Caceres.
Access to goods and services.
Direct discrimination.
A group of friends went to a disco in the
city of Badajoz. They told us how disappointed they were when the doorman refused them entry claiming
that “we only let people we know in”. They were convinced that the real motive was the fact that they are
Roma.
This is a clear case of direct discrimination on the part of the managers of this discotheque.
Often it is young people who allow themselves to be turned away from these places without even trying to
exercise their rights as citizens to enter a public place. Sometimes the reason is that they are not aware of their
rights and other times they simply accept that Roma are treated in this discriminatory fashion.
10.
Caceres.
Access to goods and services.
Direct discrimination.
The FSG office in the city of Caceres
reported the case of a Roma girl who told the waiter in a cafeteria that he was cute. She and her friends
ordered another drink but the waiter had complained to his manager who told the girls that they would not
be served.
They went outside for a minute to meet another friend but were refused entry when they tried to go back in.
Earlier, they had witnessed a loud argument amongst a group of young people but they had nothing to do with
that and those people were not asked to leave.
The following Saturday, the girl returned to the same place with her mother and both were refused entry
without any explanation.
They called the police to mediate but the situation only became more tense. They demanded an explanation of
why they were being denied entry given that they had not done anything wrong. The police asked to see their
ID cards and when they refused the police grabbed them roughly by the arm.
The women decided against filing a complaint for fear of reprisals
11.
Pontevedra.
Access to goods and services.
Direct discrimination.
A young Roma woman came to the Pon-
tevedra office of the Fundación Secretariado Gitano to complain about treatment received from a social worker.
She stated that the social worker refused to process her aid application and had shown a disrespectful attitude
towards her.
This young woman is living in a precarious situation without any sort of public assistance and the aid she recei-
ves from other organisations is in the form of one-time stipends that barely even cover her most basic needs.
Her most pressing need was rental payment as she was already several months behind.