Gypsy families being sheltered after attacks in Northern Ireland

By Peter Morrison and Jill Lawless

ASSOCIATED PRESS
2:00 a.m. June 18, 2009

BELFAST, Northern Ireland — The thugs used bricks and bottles to drive more than 100 Romanian Gypsies from their homes in a wave of attacks.

Yesterday, the victims were being sheltered in a community center after a church plucked them off a Belfast street.

The grim images — of families carrying possessions in bundled blankets, a mother clutching her 5-day-old baby — are more evidence of rising anti-immigrant sentiment across Europe, and of new fault lines in Northern Ireland's tragic history of ethnic divisions.

About 20 Romanian families, carrying their belongings in suitcases, duffel bags and blankets, were being sheltered on the community center's indoor tennis courts. One man carried an accordion, and parents gripped the hands of young children.

The families were taken in Tuesday by the City Church after youths attacked their homes in a working-class neighborhood of south Belfast, smashing windows and hurling threats. Local authorities moved the families to the roomier community center yesterday. Some said the attackers had guns, but there were no reports of serious injuries.

“They made signs like they wanted to cut my brother's baby's throat,â€