VILNIUS - The winter morning in the Vilnius Roma settlement on Dec. 2 was greeted with the sound of bulldozers and the bloodcurdling screams of women. Half- dressed people rushed outdoors into the snow to witness the unstoppable machines roll into their neighborhood. The Gypsies could only curse, cry and helplessly gesticulate in response to the threatened demolishment of their self-made houses.
But the Vilnius municipality was unrepentant for its actions, which it saw as a crusade against the prime drug market in the city, against illegal residency and construction work, and more importantly, against the unruly Tabor residents, who had the nerve to burn down the newly established police station in the area.
Although negative attitudes about the Roma still predominate in Lithuania, public outrage against the authorities' method of going about tackling the problem helped put a temporary end to the demolishment operations. For now, at least, the Gypsies' wooden houses 's hardly the sturdiest looking constructions 's are still standing, although, likewise, the bulldozers are still standing by.
The Tabor
Kirtimai is a Gypsy settlement on the outskirts of Vilnius, also known as the Tabor, which for several years now has been known as the main drug production and peddling site in the city. Only a few months ago, when passing through the Tabor, one could easily spot drug addicts shooting up, or watch taxi drivers loading up their drug deliveries 's the drug dealing system worked as easily and efficiently as a pizza-delivery service.
Legal experts said that the uncontrollable situation was a direct result of police corruption and the Vilnius municipality's failure to integrate the problematic Roma into society.
Nevertheless, with widespread public support, the police started an antidrugs campaign in October. Despite vociferous protests from the Roma, the authorities established a police station and several cameras in the Tabor on Oct. 1. However, dozens of Tabor residents approached officials at the station with curses and threw bottles at them, and just two days later they followed up their threats and burned down the station.
The police didn't take kindly to this rampant act of destruction and subsequently started regular raids in the Tabor, arresting hundreds of people accused of drug dealing and other criminal offenses. The authorities also quickly constructed another police station in the area.
The Roma community, which only consists of about 50 families, was again thrown into the media spotlight because of the events of Dec. 2., when a demolition crew, backed by some 30 police officers, attempted to demolish their illegally constructed houses.
The Roma argue that their homes are illegal only due to the fact they're not able to obtain legal ownership of land or houses in the Tabor through a lack of personal documents and permanent jobs. Many Roma from the Tabor are registered under one address 's 1 Kirtimai.
"It reminded me of a military operation that you would have seen in Chechnya, Afghanistan or Iraq. One Roma girl tried peacefully to talk with the police, but instead she was brutally arrested," said Saulius Berzinis, an eyewitness to the events of Dec. 2.
Berzinis is a Lithuanian independent filmmaker and was working on a documentary about the Roma community in Vilnius. Through his work he has gotten to know most of the settlement's residents, including the unlucky people whose property was demolished.
"I was filming one house where an old Roma couple was living with their two daughters, where one daughter also had four small children. The house was considered to be the best in the settlement because the family had invested a large part of their social aid in the building materials. So before they started to bulldoze the house, many of the locals were asking the family if they could buy some of the building material before it was demolished," Berzinis explained.
Irena Veisaite, a Holocaust survivor and now the chairman of the Open Society Fund in Lithuania, also witnessed the attempted eviction.
"It shocked me deeply that they had to use force. What struck me immediately was that this was not a way to solve the problem, this only made matters worse," Veisaite said.
"I got very emotional, and I almost wanted to go and fight against the police myself. But I decided that I might be too old to do this and that I could help the Roma instead in another and better way."
The Roma community in Kirtimai claim they have made some effort to legalize their housing, but have been simply unable to get around the bureaucracy involved.
"Three years ago I sent a request to Zuokas (mayor of Vilnius) to rent us the land for 99 years. Over the years, the municipality hasn't done anything, we did not receive a response and now the documents are thrown aside," claims Roma spokesman Stepas Visockis.
Tackling the problem
The Roma problem in Vilnius is not only a question of narcotics and integration into Lithuanian society. According to Charles Asher Small, a professor on minority issues from Yale University, there are also other, more serious underlying reasons:
"The problem is not that some Roma people are selling drugs, because drugs can be sold anywhere by anyone. I see it more as a problem of racism. There are certain minorities around the world which for centuries have always been victims of racism, and the Roma community has been one of them," Small said, while recently in Vilnius to give two guest lectures at the center for minority issues at Vilnius University.
He also witnessed the attempted eviction of the Roma on Dec. 2 and strongly criticized the Vilnius municipality for its dealings with this minority. He suggests the municipality should accept and support the community to improve their standard of living.
"Firstly, the municipality should legalize the settlement. Secondly, they should lend them capital to set up small businesses, because many of the Roma are actually quite skilled people who are qualified to offer their services," Small said. He added that there are examples around Europe where the Roma have successfully been integrated into their given society without having to wholly give up their alternative way of living and culture.
In the meantime, the problem goes on. Negotiations between the Roma community and the municipality continued for a few weeks following the Dec. 2 police operation. Rimante Saleviciute, the auditor for parliament, concluded that the eviction was a violation of the law. She explained that the Vilnius municipality committed obvious procedural mistakes. Illegal construction cases are supposed to be taken to court and only then may bulldozers be used.
However, she also commented that if taken to court, the municipality would most likely get permission to tear down the buildings as the Gypsies do not own the land or have construction permission. Salaviciute also added that even if all the houses in the Tabor were to be demolished, the Roma problem would not be solved.
During the negotiations the authorities have pledged to temporarily stop demolishment work in the Tabor and to help find the community alternative housing. However, state officials are unwilling to see any enlargement of the Tabor and it seems quite likely the bulldozers will be moving back in some time very soon. But Salaviciute is perfectly right. Such actions, while dramatic and headline grabbing, do nothing whatsoever to address the root of the problem.
