Hindus shocked at detaining children and bulldozing their toys during Roma crackdown in France

Nevada (US), Aug 25 (ANI): Hindus have expressed shock over reported military-style bulldozing children's toys and detaining of children during continuing crackdown on Roma (Gypsies) in France.

"It is simply barbaric", noted Hindu statesman Rajan Zed stated in Nevada (USA) today. It was really upsetting that France was continuing the crackdown on Roma, who were also citizens of Europe, in full view of European Union (EU) and United Nations and mounting criticism from various political, human rights and religious quarters, Zed argued.

Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, further said that this maltreatment of Roma in France smelled of xenophobia, racism, and intolerance.

During this crackdown, Roma were reportedly only permitted to grab a few bags of their belongings before the bulldozer dismantled their settlement. It was kind of a war waged against Roma and mockery of European beliefs. EU should initiate some kind of action against France's maltreatment of Roma communities, Zed stressed.

Rajan Zed said that French President Nicolas Sarkozy was apparently devastating the lives of helpless Roma families just to gain some points in his electoral strategy. France reportedly expelled about 10,000 Roma last year and about 5,000 this year and has announced demolition of 300 Roma camps.ed pointed out that it was inhuman to silently watch Roma face apartheid day after day in Europe. How could the world afford to ignore the continual suffering of fellow Roma brothers and sisters? What happened to the principles on which EU was formed and the freedom of movement? Roma had become a handy scapegoat to distract the attention in view of mounting problems of Europe and in times of economic crisis.

It was our moral obligation to make efforts to stop frequent human rights violations suffered by Roma, Zed added. (ANI)