Travellers moved around Flanders

Flemish municipalities have aroused racial hatred against travellers – often referred to as gypsies – the Movement Against Racism and Xenophobia (MRAX) said last week. The allegation, issued jointly by the Belgian organisation and its French equivalent, comes after two groups of travellers were forced by police, municipalities and courts to move on from their camping places last week.

In France, meanwhile, president Nicolas Sarkozy was criticised for harsh words regarding travellers and for clearing out some 100 camps.

In Belgium, the problem began when a group of travellers affiliated to the evangelical Christian movement Vie et Lumière moved into a field in Nieuwpoort at the coast. That caused complaints from residents, and they were forced to move on – first to Wingene, also in West Flanders, and then into Wallonia to Dour. A court gave them a deadline to move on yet again, but the town’s authorities decided to allow them to stay a week.

Meanwhile, an unrelated group of French and German travellers made an appearance at Oudenaarde, East Flanders, where they allegedly forced a barrier and installed 20 caravans in a field. They were shifted for one night to a parking lot nearby and allowed to use the sanitary facilities of a nearby campsite.

They were then moved on and ended up in Hérinnes-lez-Pecq in Wallonia, where they came to an agreement with a local landowner to rent some land until 17 August. However, after talks with the local mayor, the travellers agreed to leave, coming back into Flanders to De Pinte, near Oudenaarde, where they were ejected before nightfall, and then to nearby Zottegem, as Flanders Today went to press.

(August 3, 2010)