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Discrimination and the Roma Community 2014
6.
Badajoz.
Others Direct discrimination.
A middle-aged Roma man sold us that he started to feel bad one
day as he was walking down the street.
He had been having anxiety attacks for some time. He went into a
pharmacy to buy the medicine he needed to treat his anxiety. The pharmacist gave the man the medicine and
he asked her for a glass of water so that he could take a capsule. The pharmacist refused and told him to leave
saying that if he so urgently needed to take his pill, he should go into a bar and ask for a glass of water.
The man said that he felt discriminated against and closely watched from the moment he set foot in the phar-
macy. He’s sure that it was because he is Roma.
7.
Badajoz.
Others.
Direct discrimination.
An FSG staff member works out regularly at a gym in Badajoz. She is
treated well enough by the other people there but always hears comments or little “jokes” about Roma.
One day she heard a girl exclaim:
“
Ay sumamaaa
!!” in a loud voice imitating the way Roma speak.
The FSG worker asked her why she spoke that way and the girls answered that it was only a joke. The worker
insisted and the girl said that that was how they talk on the TV programme “Roma word of honour”.
The girl apologised and ensured her that she meant no offence.
8.
La Coruña.
Others Direct discrimination.
There is a nameplate on the door of the Coruña branch of the
Fundación Secretariado Gitano that people were vandalising: they pasted yogurt lids over the word “gita-
no”, stuck gum on it, etc.
One day someone painted over the word “gitano” as seen in the photograph.
The FSG Equality Department then decided to report these incidents to the Town Hall and asked them to take
the necessary measures because this shows disrespect and rejection of the work we are doing with the Roma
community and of the Roma Community itself.
No further incidents occurred.
9.
Navarre.
Others Direct discrimination.
A young Roma girl was with a Roma friend at a supermarket in the
town of Ansoáin.
The manager there asked them to open their handbags which they did. He then threatened to
call the police if they ever came back and so they decided to leave. Once they were outside, a municipal patrol
car stopped and the police asked to see their handbags. The girls obeyed given the insistence of the officers
and the fact that they felt intimidated. The police confirmed that there were no stolen articles and told them
that the supermarket manager had called them.
A few weeks later, the girls told us that one of them had been summoned to appear at a court hearing for
shoplifting but had no idea why. At the hearing the young girl said that the prosecutor offered her a plea of six
days imprisonment on weekends and/or holidays. The girl was shocked and due to the pressure she felt from
the prosecutor’s threat that if she didn’t sign the plea bargain the judge would give her a stiffer sentence, she
signed the plea out of fear and ignorance.
The girl was very intimidated by this treatment and the comments people were making.
10.
Ciudad Real.
Public spaces.
Direct discrimination.
An FSG staff member from Ciudad Real reported the
following:
He was in a public park skating when he came across some other young people who started to say things about
Roma: “all Gypsies are fuckin’ cowards. They always bring their families into it whenever they get into a fight.” A
non-Roma boy spoke up saying they shouldn’t criticise people like that without even knowing them.