French Roma attacked over false 'man in van' kidnap rumours
A series of unprovoked vigilante attacks on France's Roma community have erupted after false reports spread online about child abductions.
But police say the warnings of a "man in a white van" kidnapping children off the streets are "totally unfounded".
Some 20 people were arrested on Monday night after attacking the Roma community with makeshift weapons.
Read more at: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-47719257
This is an odd story and the Roma who to my understanding, are the Gypsies, have been maligned in Europe for a long time. They are still in the news plenty, a community was attacked in Ukraine not long ago.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romani_peoplehttps://www.livescience.com/40652-facts-about-roma-romani-gypsies.html
Excerpts:
5 Intriguing Facts About the Roma
By Marc Lallanilla, Live Science | October 23, 2013 03:37pm ET
...
The Roma originated in India
Linguistic analysis suggests that the Roma are originally a Hindi people from northern India. Many of the words and grammatical rules of the Romani language are virtually identical to those of the Hindi language. [Top 10 Mysteries of the First Humans]
...
There are about 12 million Roma worldwide
...
Though concentrated in Europe, there are also Romani populations on every occupied continent — about 1 million live in the United States, and roughly 800,000 in Brazil. But no matter where they go, the Roma have faced discrimination and persecution.
So, yes, some do exist some in the US.
I know very little, a bit of what we read about the Nazis persecuting them, then, what one sees on TV... they were even on an episode of Bonanza and I'm sure, plenty of other shows. Didn't Little Joe have a crush on one???
They are somewhat romantic figures in how they are protrayed.
