WHO'S REALLY TO BLAME? ; The world was horrified this week as Romanian gypsies were driven from their Belfast homes by hate-filled mobs who blamed them for a crimewave. Indefensible? Yes. But also a poisonous consequence of years of sectarian hatred [Eire Region]

Summary

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ON A piece of waste ground poisoned by toxic chemicals, a group of teenagers were indulging in an age-old ritual this week. They were making a giant bonfire from old crates and timber stolen from derelict buildings. When a huge pyre had been erected, the youths retired to admire their work from the 'den', a hut they'd built for their gang from scrap and furnished with sofas found dumped on the street.

Yet, as they prepared their fire to coincide with Northern Ireland's traditional Loyalist 'marching season', it transpired that this generation of young men had also been involved in a sinister, disturbing new ritual: mounting racial attacks on the 'foreigners' in their midst.

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WHO'S REALLY TO BLAME? ; The world was horrified this week as Romanian gypsies were driven from their Belfast homes by hate-filled mobs who blamed them for a crimewave. Indefensible? Yes. But also a poisonous consequence of years of sectarian hatred [Eire Region]

With swastikas daubed on the walls of their den, these youths -- aged from 14 to 20 -- admitted they had been present during the attacks on Romanian immigrants this week that made headlines around the world.

'So what if we were?' said one, curling his lip. 'They had it coming.' To cries of anguish from politicians and citizens alike, the tumultuous events of the past week have again thrust Belfast to the forefront of world attention, after more than 100 Romanian gypsies, known as Roma, were forced to flee in terror when gangs armed with bottles and rocks drove them from their homes.

In echoes of the sectarian violence at the height of The Troub...

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