Six Die on Roma Nation Day
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Date: Sun, 14 Apr 2002 11:57:41 +0300 (EEST)
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Subject: Six Die on Roma Nation Day
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Original sender: Ustiben <[email protected]>
Six Die on Roma Nation Day
ROMA NATION DAY MARRED BY EXLPOSION AT HOTEL
_____
Police investigating six deaths
Ustiben reports: ROMA NATION DAY, this year marking the Millennium
Jubilee of the exodus from India, saw the biggest celebrations yet.
Crowds gathered at towns and cities along the Danube, on the Rhein,
beside the Sava at Zagreb, on the Vardar in Skopje, and Sofija's Iskur
River.
In Belgrade, at the junction of the Danube and Sava, President
Kostunica of Yugoslavia honoured Roma by attending the ceremony.
Among other Danube events were those at Budapest and in Bulgaria at
Vidin, Lom and Ruse. From the Volga in Russia to the Plata, in
Argentina, Roma cast their flowers on the waters in memory of those
who began the great migrations a thousand years ago.
The feelings of the day are summed up by the words of Juan Ramirez,
president of the Romani Union in Spain: "These migrations have been no
bed of roses - and continue today with the forced "move-ons" and
migrations by those compelled to seek asylum."
Roma asylum-seekers and refugees were prominent at River Ceremonies on
the Thames in London, the Arno and Ardige in Italy, and Sweden's Malmo
Canal, as well as in Ireland at Galway Bay and on the Shannon at
Athlone.
Attention was drawn to the refugee issue at events on the Nisava in
Serbia and at Prizen in Kosovo. Human rights abuses were the subject
of a major "8 April" demonstration at Sibiu, in Romania, and at the
ceremony on the Dambovita in Bucurest, as well as that on the banks of
the Vltava in Prague.
The day was also marked by floral tributes on the Garonne in France,
at Cape Fear River, North Carolina, and in Tirana, Albania.
All were linked in spirit by the River Ceremony held at a Sikh temple
on the Ghagar, near Chandigarh, India, arranged by veteran activist
Pandit W.R Rishi, who lent his inspiration to this unique jubilee.
The day, however, was marred by the deaths of six members of a Polish
Roma family killed by an explosion in a hotel in the Czech Republic.
Police are investigating the incident which occurred at Louny,
according to a report by Ondrej Gina.
A surviving member, Tony Siwak, told Gina that among the dead is a
five year old girl. They had come from Plock, in Poland.
(This report on ROMA NATION DAY is an initial roundup only)
Photographs of the River Ceremony on Thames are available free on
request
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