Roma holocaust memorial in city is vandalised

MINDLESS thugs have desecrated a Holocaust memorial dedicated to the thousands of Roma men, women and children murdered during the Second World War.

Unveiled in Queen’s Park on August 2, Roma Holocaust Day, the genocide memorial was planted by young Roma people from Govanhill. But now, just three months later, the plaque has been ripped from its plinth in a “violent” act of destruction.

A spokeswoman from Romano Lav, a Govanhill-based charity supporting Roma rights, said: “Romano Lav unveiled our memorial on Roma Holocaust Day this year.

“We are saddened by the vandalism of the memorial and will be looking to replace the plaque as soon as we can.”

On Facebook the group posted: “It is especially important that this memorial is placed in Govanhill as Govanhill is where the vast majority of Roma people in Scotland call home.

“However, It appears that over the weekend, our young people’s genocide memorial has been violently destroyed.

“We at Romano Lav are disgusted by this act of vandalism.

“We will not tolerate racism, intimidation, or intolerance directed towards our Roma communities, or indeed towards anyone else.”

The Romani Rose Tree Memorial sits in the Rose Garden in Queen’s Park. It was unveiled at a ceremony on the commemoration of the date in 1944 when more than 4000 Roma people were murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau in one day.

A spokeswoman for Stand Up To Racism said: “Stand Up To Racism is disgusted at this news.

“To desecrate the memory of the Roma and Gypsy people’s suffering in the Holocaust is an outrage that all Glasgwegians, bar the mindless perpetrators of this attack, will oppose. We stand with our Roma neighbours and friends and condemn this.”