UK: Tabloids declare war against migrants from continental Europe

British media reports are alleging that a suburb of Sheffield in northern England is experiencing a large influx of Romani people from Slovakia who are causing tensions there. The immigrants say they want to give their children a chance at a better life in Britain, but according to local and tabloid papers, gangs of Romani youths are clashing with other residents, primarily immigrants from Pakistan, by making too much noise and shoplifting. 

Police, however, say they have not noted a rise in local crime rates. The tabloid The Daily Express has even gone so far in its anti-immigrant crusade as to report that Romani people from Slovakia are offering their children for sale. 

The national British daily The Guardian reported online that police have found nothing of the sort to be underway in Sheffield. Dissatisfaction with Romani residents in a suburb called Page Hall has led the local community, primarily comprised of Pakistani immigrants, to create an association to monitor the behavior of Slovak immigrants and try to calm the situation. 

The association says the situation is like a powder keg at risk of explosion, but rejects those who label the group a militia. They also say they are bothered by littering and by the fact that the Romani children stand around in the streets.

"We’re just a group of ordinary local people who do not like it when someone terrorizes us in our own neighborhood. We are doing our best to explain to the newcomers how life works here," said 64-year-old Barrie Rees, who has been keeping notes on his observations of the behavior of the Slovak Roma after walking around town.

On Thursday, according to The Guardian, a patrol comprised of Reese; a half-Jamaican, half-Scottish woman named Fatima; a white woman named Beverley and a Pakistani landlord who introduced himself as Khan spent time walking through the streets of the suburb.  The Guardian also mentioned a news report by the tabloid The Daily Express alleging that Romani teenagers had tried to sell the owner of a local shop a child for GBP 250.

Police have emphasized that they have thoroughly investigated the speculation that children were being sold and found no evidence of any children having disappeared in the Page Hall area. A police spokesperson said the allegations were a "pathetic joke". 

The Daily Express appears to be waging open war against immigrants from the rest of the EU. The tabloid features a petition on its website against citizens of Bulgaria and Romania living in Britain, called "Say No to Migrants from the EU". 

The petition is linked to by these words: "SIGN OUR PETITION TO SAY NO TO ANY MORE EU MIGRANTS HERE". The Guardian has also reported that while local police do not have exact crime statistics available for the Page Hall suburbs, it does not seem to them that crime has significantly risen since a larger number of Slovak Romani people arrived in the community three years ago. 

The Guardian quotes a local police officer as saying the following:  "There has not been a more significant crime increase since a large number of Slovak Roma immigrated here. What is happening is more like antisocial behavior than shoplifting or other crimes." 

British newspapers are also quoting the opinions of Romani immigrants living in the suburb of Sheffield. Mario Sandor, a 37-year-old father of five, emphasized that he just wants his family to have a better life.

"In Romania I can’t get work because I’m black," he said. "Here I work at Tesco and in a hot dog factory. My children are receiving a proper education. That’s why I’m here:  I want them to become doctors and lawyers."

Daniel Dunka, now 17 years old, immigrated to Sheffield with his seven brothers and one sister seven years ago and said he wants to get a good job one day, preferably as a teacher. Patrick Pokuta, another 17-year-old studying at the local business high school, said he wants to become a mechanic.

Neither boy said he considered it a problem to stand around in the streets at night. "There’s nowhere else to go," they said.

Christian Kandrak, age 10, has been living in Sheffield since February but was already speaking English with a Sheffield accent as he explained he wants to become a professional interpreter. "I like it in England. I want to learn English properly so I can get a good job and make money. That’s why Slovaks are moving here," the Czech news server Britské listy quotes him as telling The Guardian.   

Authorities estimate that around 1 500 Eastern European Roma live in the town, of whom 500 reside in the small Page Hall quarter. However, according to the papers, a certain local Romani resident from Slovakia says the numbers are even higher.

The man’s opinion was quoted that anywhere between 600 and 900 Romani families live in the town, most of them in Page Hall. The Guardian also reports that local residents have welcomed the fact that authorities have begun focusing on their problems in recent days and said a greater police presence can reportedly also be felt in the town now.

Not all inhabitants of Great Britain share the opinions of the British tabloids. News server Britské listy cited one of the posts beneath The Guardian’s online article on the issue as follows:  "I am a community nurse currently caring for one elderly member of a Romani family from Eastern Europe. Three generations are living under one roof (they are paying for private accommodations and are not entitled to a state apartment) and in my opinion they are living in very cramped conditions, but they say it is much better than the conditions they lived in before. The main breadwinner works at a poorly-paid, unskilled job even though in his native country he was a skilled laborer. They receive minimal social assistance and all of the children attend school regularly. My patient, an invalid, became the target of racism here to such a degree that it is no longer possible for him to go outside alone. They are making an enormous impression on me with their approach to caring for their elderly. I cannot blame anyone, especially not people as nice as this family, for wanting a better life for their children."

On Thursday, UK Deputy PM Nick Clegg called on Romani immigrants to conform to the British way of life. Speaking in a radio interview, he also emphasized that the best way to resolve disputes is "to talk to one another" and said he believed Britain must remain an open country.  

His remarks followed those made by former UK Interior Minister David Blunkett, who warned that without better integration of Romani people there is a risk of violent unrest in some parts of the country. Blunkett, who is from the Labour Party, and Clegg, who is a Liberal Democrat, were specifically discussing the quarter of Page Hall, which both represent in Parliament. 

Blunkett has said he believes that Romani people from Slovakia are coming to Britain from an immeasurably neglected, oppressive environment where electricity, waste removal and water services don’t function and that it is necessary to teach them to adapt to the existing services in the civilized environment of Britain. According to Jan Čulík of the Bristké listy news server, other Czech media outlets are quoting Blunkett inaccurately.

"What is interesting is that Blunkett’s remark about Romani people from Slovakia coming from  ‘downtrodden villages or woodlands’ was not quoted by the other Czech media. It is evident from his remarks that he blames Slovak society for the state of the newcomers from Slovakia," Čulík writes on news server Britské listy.

Former UK Interior Minister Jack Straw (Labour Party) said on Wednesday that opening Britain up without restrictions to citizens of the new EU Member States after 2004, including the Czech Republic and Poland, had been a "spectacular error". He said the government had predicted 13 000 new immigrants at the most per year and ultimately experienced more than 200 000 annually. 

These latest concerns among British residents are being prompted by the fact that at the start of 2014, Britain is also supposed to open up to citizens of Bulgaria and Romania without restrictions.