POSTERS bearing anti-Traveller slogans that have been put up in an English village are being treated as a hate crime by police.
Sussex Police said the ‘hate posters’ are believed to have been put up in Barns Green, Horsham, Surrey overnight on October 7-8.
They said the posters contained anti-Traveller images and slogans in German.
One poster read: ‘Gypsies verboten im Barns Grün’ (Gypsies forbidden in Barns Green).
Another showed a caravan in a red warning triangle.
#Nazi type posts many anti gypsy posters around #barnsgreen #racist #gypsy pic.twitter.com/k5e1CWxtKE
— 21 (@Invisibledata) October 8, 2018
A spokesperson for Sussex Police said: “Officers will be conducting high visibility patrols in the area and the investigation is ongoing.”
Yvonne MacNamara, CEO of the Traveller Movement, said it was important for the police to take action to deal with such incidents.
“It is encouraging that Sussex police are treating these posters as what they are; hate crime,” she told The Irish Post.
“Discrimination against anyone based on their ethnicity or other characteristic is hateful and wrong.
“We know from our research that 91 per cent of Gypsies, Roma and Irish Travellers have been victims of discrimination in some way, and these victims of such obvious and vicious attacks need to know that the police are behind them making efforts to stop these injustices.
“We look forward to seeing what actions are taken by Sussex police on this matter.”
Sussex Police are urging anyone who witnessed or captured footage of any suspicious behaviour in the area on October 7-8 to call 101 quoting reference 245 of 08/10.
The Traveller Movement’s national annual conference will take place at the Resource for London Centre, Holloway Road, N7 6PA on Thursday, November 1, from 9.30am until 4pm.
This year’s event is titled Beyond the Tick Box: The Impact of Institutional Bias & Discrimination on Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Communities.
Over 100 Gypsies, Roma, Irish Travellers, policy makers and other stakeholder groups will discuss issues and progress relevant to the respective communities.
For more information, click here.
