BRITAIN: Newspaper declares 'war on gypsies'

The March 9 edition of the Sun featured a blazing "Stamp on the camps!" headline, with an article underneath calling for a "war on gipsy [sic] free-for-all", and warning of a "gipsy invasion". The newspaper is campaigning against recent governmental advice to local councils to attempt to identify appropriate land for Traveller populations to buy and develop. The newspaper is calling for laws preventing Travellers from establishing residential communities on vacant land. Several groups made formal police complaints about the Sun's coverage, claiming it constituted inciting racial hatred. Some Traveller families said their children had been frightened by the declaration of war.

From Green Left Weekly, March 16, 2005.

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From GLW issue 619