EAPN Slovakia member and activist Igor Hudák, from Moldava nad Bodvou, was amongst the potential participants in the 12th Meeting and one of the casualties of the Slovak police.
On Sunday, 16 June 2013, some of the Romani residents of a settlement in Moldava nad Bodvou, Slovakia allegedly damaged a police vehicle. On Wednesday, 19 June, police returned to their community in force.
According to a local nonprofit organization, the settlement was surrounded by 20 police cars and a special police unit wearing balaclavas started demolishing fixtures inside people’s homes and making mass arrests. Police deny the allegations of brutality.
A police raid of this kind has not taken place in Slovakia for a long time. “The officers went from one dwelling to another, breaking down doors, smashing furniture and windows, and attacking individual residents in a very aggressive way without communicating with them in any reasonable manner whatsoever. People were injured. Some of our clients had to seek medical treatment, for which there are medical records,” said Martin Vavrinčík of the nonprofit organization ETP Slovensko, which runs a community center in the settlement.
Read more here: http://www.romea.cz/en/news/slovak-police-demolish-roma-settlement-infant-reportedly-hospitalized-as-a-result
Igor had participated in the first annual conference of Europan Platform against Poverty and Social Inclusion.
