The good news about the anti-Roma conflict in Andriyivka (Kharkiv oblast) on 29 August is that the law enforcement bodies behaved extremely well, very likely averting bloodshed. The bad news is, of course, that an incident involving members of a single Roma family was used to fire up a huge crowd and provoke demands that all of the Roma community in Andriyivka be evicted. One family almost certainly remains in the hiding place provided by the police, and others have every reason to feel frightened in their own homes.
What happened a few days later was much more disturbing. There are around 300 Roma in Andriyivka which has a population of around nine thousand people. Vitaly Stepanenko, called a public meeting for 31 August (a Saturday morning) in the central square, with this attended by around 500 people. Stepanenko made the first, incendiary speech in which he claimed that Roma were committing acts of lawlessness, hooliganism and crimes and that the local police and authorities were turning a blind eye to this. Judging by some of the speeches, people were intent on expressing general discontent with the authorities, however there was a pronounced anti-Roma message, which Stepanenko, in particular, was fuelling. He specifically accused members of the Roma community of involvement in drugs and drug trafficking, and called on the police to organize a patrol of the village and neighbouring Donets.
Link: http://khpg.org/en/index.php?id=1599172168
