Roma wall in Slovakia draws criticism from Brussels
The infamy of the wall in Košice segregating the city’s Roma community has made it to Brussels with the European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, Androulla Vassiliou, criticising city officials and warning that the wall is at odds with the city’s title European Capital of Culture 2013.
While Richard Raši, the mayor of Košice, responded that the construction of the “segregation wall was an unpleasant surprise for us”, Rudolf Bauer, the official who is responsible for Západ, the part of the city where the wall was built, said that Vassiliou based her opinion on incomplete information. Yet, Dionýz Slepčík, the mayor of Lunik IX, a densely-populated housing estate inhabited mostly by Roma, said he has not registered complaints from the Lunik inhabitants yet.
Meanwhile, a big ‘Prepáčte’ (Sorry) was painted on the wall itself. A couple weeks later someone quickly removed the inscription.
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