13 June 2000

The demolition of the Roma ôAntenaö settlement in Surcin just outside Belgrade on 7 June took place amid police brutality. The 32 adults and 77 children, half of whom are displaced persons from Kosovo, were ill-treated and insulted by police as bulldozers levelled their homes. A 12-year-old boy was punched and kicked in the kidneys, and a Roma man was taken to the police station where he was physically and verbally abused for several hours.

On 6 June the authorities of the Novi Beograd municipality, in which the Socialist Party of Serbia has the majority, ordered the demolition of the ôAntenaö settlement, which was built in defiance of zoning laws, and the eviction of the Roma inhabitants. Their appeal for more time to find other accommodation was turned down. The Kosovo Roma believe that the authorities want to move them to a displaced personsÆ camp in Valjevo before returning them to Kosovo against their will.

The police, uniformed and in plain clothes, arrived in the settlement in two groups. They hurled racial insults at the Roma and slapped, punched and kicked a number of them, including women and children. Roma property û furniture, electric appliances and several automobiles û was damaged when bulldozers flattened the homes.

The Humanitarian Law Center will file a criminal complaint against the police officers who abused the Roma inhabitants of the settlement.