A promising land?

June 2009: A Romanian Roma woman and child are escorted from Belfast after a racist mob attacked their home

There was a point when the situation could have spun out of control. “There was a lot of tension this time last year and we were genuinely concerned that had there been a trigger, some people might have reacted violently,” recalls Inspector Damian O’Reilly of Greater Manchester Police.

“The fact that nothing happened is, I think, down to that community being made up of decent, reasonable people. It’s not that they hate these families – they just don’t understand them.”

O’Reilly heads the neighbourhood policing team for Gorton, an area of south east Manchester which over recent years has seen an influx of Roma migrants from Romania. 

For eight centuries the Roma – one of Europe’s largest minorities – have faced social exclusion and anti-Gypsy prejudice wherever they have settled. Some believe this emerging community – which is concentrated on a small number of streets – could thrive here with the right support. But employment restrictions on Romanians mean they struggle to make ends meet, with little choice but to sell The Big Issue

Gorton’s Roma community hails mainly from the region around the southern town of Tandarei, with most arriving since Romania joined the European Union in January 2007. As so-called A2 nationals, they are allowed to settle here but rules in place until 2013 restrict their work options to little other than self-employment. A generally poor grasp of English limits them further.

Estimates of the size of the community in Gorton range between 500 and 1,000 people. Roma now acount for about half of The Big Issue in the North vendors, with the highest proportion selling in Manchester. Their integration has not been smooth and last year community relations hit their lowest ebb. The news in June that a violent mob had forced 20 Roma families to flee their homes in Belfast – before eventually returning to Romania – raised fears about what could happen in Manchester.

Similar attacks on Roma have also been reported in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia. The deportation this summer of thousands of Romanian and Bulgarian Roma by the authorities in France, Denmark and Sweden has kept the issue in people’s minds. Everyone from the Pope to the European Union has criticised the demolition of Roma camps in France and Italy.

Romanian Roma are expelled from their home in South West France.

Last month the United Nations Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination urged France to try to integrate the Roma. The government should avoid “the collective repatriations and seek durable solutions to settle issues related to Roma on the basis of full respect of their human rights”, it said in a statement. 

In Gorton, tension built as the community became an increasingly visible presence. Some complaints were genuine but this was a scruffy, high-crime area long before their arrival and the newcomers became convenient scapegoats. 

The neighbourhood is home to an abundance of shabby private-rented terraces, with landlords who are prepared to turn a blind eye to overcrowding. The group was blamed for an increase in rubbish dumped on pavements and in alleyways and complaints were made about begging, noise, large gatherings of people and children being out of school.

Unsubstantiated rumours of gangsterism and child trafficking added to the atmosphere of mistrust and language barriers made communication between neighbours almost non-existent. Roma residents – including children – were victims of verbal abuse. It was clear that something had to be done.

A working group was established to bring together statutory agencies to discuss the problems. Public meetings were called to hear residents’ concerns, and continue to this day. These often descended into shouting matches and at times “weren’t far off being

BNP rallies”, admits Gorton South councillor Simon Ashley – although he is quick to stress how much has improved. 

“This has always been an ethnically diverse part of Manchester but this has had a real impact on community cohesion,” he says. “Of course there will always be the ‘send ’em back’ brigade, but there’s a much larger number who are just fed up and want something done to clean up the area. Actually I think it’s a tribute to our community that we haven’t seen violence or rioting over these very genuine issues.”

Inspector Damian O’Reilly of Greater Manchester Police has worked hard to reduce community tensions

Efforts have been made to address the principal causes for complaint. Extra police officers, street cleaners and bins have been put into the area, work has been carried out to get Roma children into schools and community fun days have been held in a nearby park. Officials have engaged with Roma families to explain where to leave rubbish and to persuade them to congregate away from people’s houses. The approach appears to be working.

Although the situation is still not perfect, the tension has subsided. Police and council officials have developed good relationships with residents on all sides and are often

invited into Roma homes. Enforcement action has been taken against errant landlords and Roma families are now taking more responsibility for the area, says O’Reilly.

“You don’t have the kids running wild anymore. You don’t see the same amount of litter. Plus you don’t get the cars racing round. We’ve had a purge of unlicensed vehicles, which has calmed things down. Whatever we’ve done has been pretty well received,”he says. 

Even an operation where Greater Manchester Police – acting in conjunction with Romanian police, the Metropolitan Police and the UK Borders Agency – raided a number of homes in an investigation into suspected child trafficking appears not to have harmed relations between the Roma community and police.

No evidence was found and the six adults who had been arrested were released without charge. The15 children taken into care were quickly returned to their families.“I think one of the successes has been that we’ve always listened to what the concerns were, taken them seriously and then explained what we’ve done about them,” says O’Reilly. 

“So we have their trust now – the established community is calm and knows that if anything untoward is going on we will do something about it. At the same time we are trying to get across the message that the majority of Roma residents are actually really good.”

The pressure has not been restricted to Gorton. The fact that The Big Issue in the North allows Roma to sell the magazine is problematic for some, including Ashley, who is also leader of the city council’s Liberal Democrat opposition. As self-employed vendors they get a National Insurance number, which enables them to access a range of in-work benefits.

“I believe The Big Issue in the North is allowing itself to be used as a gateway to benefits dependency,” he says. “Fundamentally, these people aren’t homeless – they are all in houses. But because they’ve found a loophole which gives them access to benefits, selling the magazine is now an end in itself and not about genuine self-employment.”

The Big Life group, which owns The Big Issue in the North, has come under sustained pressure to take action and some Roma vendors have had their benefits cut in cases where the council does not consider them to be “genuinely or effectively selfemployed”. 

“We assess all benefit claims in accordance with the law and will refuse those we do not consider valid,” a Manchester City Council spokesman explains.

“The vast majority of Roma people in Manchester are law-abiding, work hard and do not abuse the benefits system. This issue surrounds a small number of individuals who we believe are applying for benefits they are not entitled to.Anyone who is refused benefits has a right of appeal.”

 Legal challenges may also be in the pipeline.Ashley is unimpressed with the response so far. “My view is that The Big Issue in the North could have been far more helpful than it has been,” he says.

“While I appreciate that they can’t do much about this loophole I believe there are other ways around this problem – time limits on how long vendors can sell the magazine, for example, or regular reviews of their circumstances. I don’t think the magazine is sticking to its core values here.”

That charge is flatly rejected by The Big Issue in the North director Caroline Price, who sees no contradiction in allowing Roma to sell the magazine. She points out that they meet the requirement of being “vulnerably housed”, since without this means of income most would struggle to pay their rent.

To take away their livelihood would amount to discrimination and would not only be against the company’s ethos – but also against the law.

“We understand that these benefits entitlements are seen by some in the council as a loophole but the fact is that these people are permitted to be self-employed and they are entitled to those payments at present,” she says.

"That’s an issue for the government but this raises a fundamental ethical question for me and that is whether A2 nationals who are allowed to be in this country and to be self-employed should be entitled to these benefits, which are meant for people on low incomes. If we accept this kind of immigration but don’t allow this then we are condemning them to life below the poverty line. The same rules should apply to everyone. These benefits are a safety net.”

If these arguments can be resolved, there are many reasons to be positive about the chances of the Roma who have moved to Gorton. Most are members of a strict Pentecostal Christian church and eschew smoking, alcohol consumption and any form of violence.

School attendance is good, with about 50 children currently in primary school and more than 60 in high school. The authorities in Glasgow and Slough – which also have sizeable Roma communities – have met with reluctance to send older children to school as they would traditionally be expected to be economically active from the age of about 12.

While Roma girls are still less visble than boys in Manchester’s classrooms, this willingness to engage bodes well for a community whose education levels are generally low, according to Professor Yaron Matras, who heads the University of Manchester’s Romani Project and has carried out research with the community in Gorton.

He also describes the enthusiasm among officials to help the Roma and understand their culture as “hugely encouraging”.“Official policy has always been set against the Roma, who are typically seen as outsiders and a threat to social order wherever they are living,” he explains. “But the community in Gorton is really very well behaved – they are people who just want to get on with their lives and mind their own business.

“One day when I visited a family to do some research, a senior police officer came with me and told them: ‘We want to know about you because we want you to stay.’ They were completely shocked. I think it was probably the first time in eight centuries of Romani history that an official has said anything like that to them.

“There’s enormous potential to build on this energy we have in Manchester. With a few good decisions, we could be a model of integration for Roma.” For Matras the solution is simple. Manchester should be looking to create opportunities and aspirations for a community that has always lived on the margins. Options are limited for the older generation so he would like to see efforts focused on the young people – especially those who are in education and learning English.

He says: “In the short term we need to engage the young adults who have the language skills but who aren’t high school graduates. If they are already interpreting for their families, why can’t we pay them if they are doing it well?

“In the coming years we’re going to see the first generation of young Roma adults graduating from schools with qualifications and language skills but they don’t have role models,” he explains. “As far as they’re concerned, being a Gypsy means you can only sweep the streets or sell The Big Issue in the North. This is what we need to challenge.” 

It’s a view shared in other quarters. The Big Life group recently set up a new community project in Gorton, funded by The Big Issue in the North trustees, with one full-time outreach worker, but over time there will be funding for several smaller paid positions – which it is hoped will go to Roma people.

O’Reilly too, knows the cost in police hours andRomani interpreters’ fees is unsustainable and hopesto soon start working in conjunction with paid young Roma wardens who speak English. As more individuals move into the the area, the wardens would connect with them and help them to understand what is expected in terms of behaviour.

“This has been horrendously time consuming and at times you do have to ask if going around to talk to people about what’s expected of them with schooling,rubbish and everything else is really a police job,” O’Reilly admits.

“But if we hadn’t taken this on board – in conjunction with our partners – the worst case scenario could have been another Belfast. So in that sense, yes, it’s been very worthwhile. But with the best will in the world, we can’t keep doing it endlessly.”

 This article was originally published in the Big Issue in The North.