I would welcome comments from everyone, but particularly comments from those who are from the regions where this ethnic group lives. What I know of the gypsies - akin to the Irish Travelers in the US - these people are virtually all scam artists and petty thieves. If this is truly the case, I can't see how it could be good for Britain that they all show up at once.

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Britain's Our Dream By OLIVER HARVEY in Kezmarok, Slovakia GIPSIES determined to flee grinding poverty in Eastern Europe are preparing to flood into Britain in their thousands. They are counting the days until May 1 when countries such as Poland and Slovakia join the EU, a Sun investigation has revealed. Britain has pledged to welcome them with open arms — unlike EU partners such as France, Germany, Italy and Spain. And yesterday one grateful Polish dad-of-two told us: “We are all desperate to go to Britain. We want a better life. A jobless neighbour — also a Roma gipsy — vowed: “I will sell everything I own and buy bus tickets for all the family.” The gipsies we spoke to in Poland and Slovakia — among 1.5 million Roma who will suddenly become EU citizens — insisted they wanted to come to the UK to work. Once here they will be entitled to the same health, education, pension and welfare benefits as the rest of us. Other EU countries like France and Germany have ruled out free access to jobs for up to seven years. But Britain and Ireland will grant full rights from day one. As many as five buses a day leave Warsaw on the 26-hour journey to London via Dover. A one-way ticket costs £40. Father-of-two Daniel Dolinski told of his dream of a new life in Britain as he stood among 30 gipsies outside pitiful shacks in Mielec, Poland. The town’s 700 Roma are the poorest of the poor — discriminated against and unable to get jobs. Skinheads have daubed swastikas and racist slogans on walls. Daniel, 27, said: “I can be a labourer in Britain. We’ll be treated better there. The housing is better. “We want to live like humans. We get £44 a month from the government. There are very few jobs and they all go to Polish people. “The women make money by doing fortune telling. They make at most £1.50 a time. Roma are attacked by skinheads. The old people can’t walk the streets at night.” A few doors away, two tiny rooms are home to the Bazalinski family — unemployed dad Ryszard, 28, mum Bozena, 35, and their six children. They have been to Britain before — living in Liverpool until they were deported last year. Daughter Roksana, 11, was treated for a bowel condition on the NHS. Ryszard, who sends his family to beg on the streets, said: “We will return to Britain as soon as we can. “In Liverpool we were given a big house with nine rooms and the children went to school.” Gipsy leader Adam Andrasz, 48, said 50,000 Roma live in Poland — and ALL want to join the 6,000 already in the UK. He admitted: “Roma going to Britain may need some support from the Government. But once they have the education and skill they will work.” The British embassy in Warsaw has even produced a leaflet for the gipsies. Envoy Tim Simmons, 43, said: “We told the Roma they will be welcomed in Britain if they go there to work and pay taxes. “But if they have no intention of working they will not be welcomed.” The EU expansion will welcome 73 million former communist bloc citizens. Poland’s neighbour Slovakia is among the ten nations joining. It has an estimated 650,000 gipsies — and Roma leaders predict 40 per cent will leave. Near the town of Kezmarok we found dozens already getting ready. The gipsy ghetto where 1,200 live in the village of Strane Pod Tatrami is like something out of the Dark Ages. The open sewers and filthy wooden hovels shame a nation about to become Britain’s EU partner. Drinking water is collected in buckets. Men scavenge daily for firewood. Carpenter Milan Badzo, 28, a dad of two, said: “I am learning English and have saved for the fare.” Woodcutter Gustav Baco, 37, shares a two-room hut with his wife, four children and their gran. He picks berries and mushrooms to feed his family. He said: “I dream of going to England to work.” Vladimir Badzo, 35, said through an interpreter: “I’ll take my family. I’ll do anything.” Labour MP Paul Stinchcombe, 41, said last night: “I have written to ministers saying countries that do not improve their living conditions for their Roma people like Slovakia should not be admitted to the EU.” But the exodus is not confined to gipsies. Other poverty-stricken Eastern Europeans plan to join it. Warsaw cabbie Mariosz Wozniak, 28, said he wanted to come to Britain, explaining: “My wife Agata and I haven’t had children because we can’t afford to support them.”

Note: the 200,000 number comes from the sidebar on the webpage where the article is posted.

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FLUSHED THE JOHNS!

This is always a thorny subject in Europe, especially Eastern Europe. The Romani as they prefer to be called have never had a place to call their own in Europe and in places such as Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro, etc. they are treated pretty rough by the local populace who look down upon them and constantly discriminate against them through lack of education, jobs and thus social benefits. As the European Union expands this is an issue that they will have to deal with especially in those nations that will be joining the E.U. from the East. As for Britons, just watch out for them in the tubes Interesting to see what the British on here think of this.

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Trance = Heart, Mind, Body and Soul all in 1

Current fav. Global Experience = Madras

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Originally posted by NYCTrancefan As the European Union expands this is an issue that they will have to deal with especially in those nations that will be joining the E.U. from the East.

This is precisely the issue. Of the EU's "four freedoms," free movement of people is the most controversial. And it's one of the reasons we've seen a rise in nationalist, anti-immigration political parties across the EU.

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FLUSHED THE JOHNS!

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Originally posted by imokruok This is precisely the issue. Of the EU's "four freedoms," free movement of people is the most controversial. And it's one of the reasons we've seen a rise in nationalist, anti-immigration political parties across the EU.

Interesting to see where that idea of free movement of people goes, after all many of the Eastern European nations wouldn't mind seeing the Roma move to "greener pastures" makes it less troublesome for them to deal with the social issues. The thing about the Roma is that they never stay in one place for two long, or can't because of many differing factors from internal to external ones.

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Trance = Heart, Mind, Body and Soul all in 1

Current fav. Global Experience = Madras

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Originally posted by NYCTrancefan This is always a thorny subject in Europe, especially Eastern Europe. The Romani as they prefer to be called have never had a place to call their own in Europe and in places such as Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro, etc. they are treated pretty rough by the local populace who look down upon them and constantly discriminate against them through lack of education, jobs and thus social benefits. As the European Union expands this is an issue that they will have to deal with especially in those nations that will be joining the E.U. from the East. As for Britons, just watch out for them in the tubes Interesting to see what the British on here think of this.

Heh, it's true that they are discriminated against by the general population, but it's not like they're doing anything to stop the prejudice against them. The majority of them are begging or stealing, while their children aren't taught to behave in schools, so they have to take an additional year or two just in order to learn how to behave. But aside from the occasional skirmishes with skinheads, they're pretty much not being actively discriminated against, so really they're the ones to blame for their living conditions.

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1+1=10

My experience with gypsies have not been too good. When they come to Mansfield, they go on a massive car park which is used for ppl to go shopping, and they generally steal.

Rememeber when i went to church and a family sat at the back who were gippos, and all of their clothes had the creme security tags on them, i couldnt stop laughing!

i can't really say my run-ins with Gypsies have been great, to say the least. The few i saw were either:

A. begging with a KFC big chicken tub

B. getting drunk with construction workers and then bothering everyone around them.

C. hitting my friends in the back of the legs with sticks in a big crowd.

but i would be willing to give them a chance.

What a bunch of fucking racists you guys are.

Gypsies are considered a different ethnic group, and they have latin roots. That's why they are more accepted in my country, Spain, Italy and Romania than in the rest of europe (it's strange this action from the UK, i never expected it).

While it's true that some of them steal, beg and kill, of course the large majority doesn't. Just because they look dirty, live in trailors etc doesn't mean they are all a bunch of thieves. The thing is, when a gypsie commits a crime, it gets all splashed in the newspaper "GYPSIE KILLS". It happened before with black people, now it's with gypsies and ucranians.

I must admit i've had some bad experiences with gypsies, got mugged twice by them, but i've also been mugged 3 times more by white people.

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Originally posted by borron I must admit i've had some bad experiences with gypsies, got mugged twice by them, but i've also been mugged 3 times more by white people.

Geez Borron how may times have you been mugged. I doubt that some of the opinions posted here so far will impact the Roma people. Their main problem lies in the fact that they have never been integrated into European society for many reasons, therefore they are always viewed as being different from mainstream societies in which they live. Among every group of course stereotyping tends to be an ignorant sentiment among us humans, because not every Romani acts in a criminal manner

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Trance = Heart, Mind, Body and Soul all in 1

Current fav. Global Experience = Madras

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Originally posted by borron What a bunch of fucking racists you guys are. Gypsies are considered a different ethnic group, and they have latin roots. That's why they are more accepted in my country, Spain, Italy and Romania than in the rest of europe (it's strange this action from the UK, i never expected it). While it's true that some of them steal, beg and kill, of course the large majority doesn't. Just because they look dirty, live in trailors etc doesn't mean they are all a bunch of thieves. The thing is, when a gypsie commits a crime, it gets all splashed in the newspaper "GYPSIE KILLS". It happened before with black people, now it's with gypsies and ucranians. I must admit i've had some bad experiences with gypsies, got mugged twice by them, but i've also been mugged 3 times more by white people.

People are not racist from telling personal experience they have with gypsies. They have a reputation for reason, not all are bad, but allot of them are.

U also can not compare them to black people, because the prejudice from society in the past was extreme for reasons of being more supreme.I dont think any of us are going to burn them down because we beleive we are more superior?

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Originally posted by borron What a bunch of fucking racists you guys are.

Because we say that most gypsies live off begging or stealing, while the most prosperous ones sing at the weddings? It's not racism, it's reality.

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Gypsies are considered a different ethnic group, and they have latin roots. That's why they are more accepted in my country, Spain, Italy and Romania than in the rest of europe (it's strange this action from the UK, i never expected it).

Their language is similar to latin, but genetically they're not really european.

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While it's true that some of them steal, beg and kill, of course the large majority doesn't. Just because they look dirty, live in trailors etc doesn't mean they are all a bunch of thieves. The thing is, when a gypsie commits a crime, it gets all splashed in the newspaper "GYPSIE KILLS". It happened before with black people, now it's with gypsies and ucranians.

It's true that not many of them kill or steal, but I'd say that the majority of those guys here beg for money. It doesn't really make the news though.

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I must admit i've had some bad experiences with gypsies, got mugged twice by them, but i've also been mugged 3 times more by white people.

Well, you should take care of yourself better. But really, considering that the gypsies consist of much less than 25% of the population of Portugal, you can say that it's several times more likely for a gypsy to be a mugger than for a regular portugese guy.

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1+1=10

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Originally posted by nic01445 i can't really say my run-ins with Gypsies have been great, to say the least. The few i saw were either: A. begging with a KFC big chicken tub B. getting drunk with construction workers and then bothering everyone around them. C. hitting my friends in the back of the legs with sticks in a big crowd. but i would be willing to give them a chance.

Are there very many gypsies in the US? That's news to me.