By Sasa Kavic

AMBRUS, Slovenia, Nov 26 (Reuters) About 1,000 Slovenian villagers scuffled with police as they protested against the return of a large Roma Gypsy family that had been evicted last month.

The Strojans, a 30-strong Roma family about half of whom are children, were asked by the government to leave their house near the village of Ambrus in late October after villagers threatened to expel them, accusing them of theft.

The Council of Europe human-rights watchdog criticised Slovenia earlier this month for evicting the family.

Scores of police sealed off the roads to Ambrus, in central Slovenia, a Reuters cameraman at the scene reported yesterday. One protester was hurt in a scuffle with police.

''We are here to prevent the gypsies' return. We don't mind gypsies in general, but we do object to having this particular lot here. We've had nothing but trouble with them for the last 15 years,'' said Ales Lobokar, one of the protesters.

After their eviction, the Strojans were put up in a former army barracks in another part of the country, but government efforts to resettle them failed when locals protested.

Mirko Strojan, one of the four grown-up men in the family, told Reuters they had left their refugee shelter yesterday and headed home.

''We've had enough of waiting,'' he said, but added they would spend the night at a nearby motel.

The government was disappointed that the Strojans had acted on their own, said Education Minister Milan Zver, president of government's commission for protection of the Roma ethnic group.

REUTERS BDP HT0905