While I am naturally a bit upset by the multiple levels of irony in this story, I have to admit I'm also quite irritated and disappointed. It appears that the German police has actively engaged in ethnic profiling at the Saxony Highfield festival, reported in the German press as "racial profiling", most likely because of the Gypsy/Roma/Romanian Confusion. Let us consider this news together with a few more concerning the diaspora.

Apparently, back in 2016 (aftermovie, Rammstein), a 20-member gang of thieves was arrested. At the time, MDR Sachsen reported:

“Organisierte Kriminalität: Die meisten der 20 Mitglieder der Bande stammen aus Rumänien, erklärte eine Polizeisprecherin gegenüber MDR JUMP. Sie sollen sich aufgeteilt haben und bei Konzerten und Festivals in kleineren Gruppen unterwegs gewesen sein.”

Meaning,

“Most of the gang's 20 members are from Romania, a police spokeswoman told MDR JUMP. They are said to have split up and been traveling in smaller groups at concerts and festivals.”

This time around, the Polizei sent a letter to hotels in the area, asking them to report any Romanian tourists, which then they justified via Twitter (click the image above) with the following regulation or law:

"Die Polizei kann innerhalb der durch das Recht gesetzten Schranken die erforderlichen Maßnahmen treffen, um eine im einzelnen Falle bestehende Gefahr für die öffentliche Sicherheit oder Ordnung abzuwehren, soweit die Befugnisse der Polizei nicht besonders geregelt sind."

Meaning,

"Within the limits set by law, the police may take the necessary measures to avert an individual case of public security or order, unless the powers of the police are specifically regulated."

Obviously, the aforementioned regulation is very clear with the words “individual case” and anyhow, group discrimination is illegal in Europe, as elsewhere in the civilized world, through human rights legislation that supersedes police laws and regulations, even if the law quoted by the Sachsen Polizei meant what they claim it means (which is unlikely).

The police approach got a free pass from the Privacy Commissioner of Saxony, but obviously, that commissioner is either incompetent or can merely discuss privacy implications, whereas ethnic profiling is a human rights matter, most likely within the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights. For that to be aired, an affected Romanian citizen would have to complain or commence litigation, and Romania (as a sovereign) would likely have to complain via diplomatic channels.

It bears repeating that targeting an entire group of people based on the actions of a few members of that group is wrong, illegal and the very definition of bigotry/racism. For example, Trump wanted to close the border with Mexico based on his stated belief that all Mexicans are “bad apples” due to the supposed crimes of a few Mexicans. Needless to say, not all the Mexicans are criminals (and furthermore, a lot of the Mexican crime can be attributed to the USA DEA drug war). Likewise, the fact that a few Romanians committed crimes does not mean that all Romanians commit crimes and if Police and those in the hospitality industry target all Romanians, that’s ethnic profiling, because Romanians are a different ethnicity, not a different race (unless you consider Gypsies to be a different race because of their Indian descent and darker skin and assimilate all Romanians with them).

This is precisely the kind of discrimination that Romanians are particularly bad at defending. And that’s because Romanians themselves are guilty of discriminating against Gypsy/Roma people, whom they call “TZigani”, from the German “Zigeuner”, or “Rromi”, which is very much like Roma but with an extra “r” supposedly added to avoid confusion.

Take, for instance, an article published the other day in “Timisoara” (aka Temeschwar or Temeschburg: vt-rromi):

Hallucinating situation in Timișoara, during this month - August 2019. It is well known that during this period the "Western" Gypsies return to the Mioritic plains and do not do it in any manner, but with expensive cars, most of them rented. Starting with the arrival of the Roma citizens on the banks of the Bega river and with the "parade" of their cars in all the areas with completely PROHIBITED road traffic (..), there is a new "phenomenon". Most Gypsy-driven vehicles move without the registration plates for the vehicles, the drivers declaring that they have been stolen.

Gypsies (Roma/Rroma/etc) are always presented as an infractional group in the Romanian press, and whenever someone attempts to explain that this is racist/illegal, that person is usually censored by a group of angry commenters who blame political correctness and immediately start to tell their stories of how they suffered at the hands of one/more Gypsies and how they cannot breathe because of the Gypsy minority. As such, most Romanians fail to respond adequately to such group portrayals in mass-media, taking the view that “it’s good that this happens to Gypsies” or “bine le face”, as in their minds, they are not included in this group.

dorian

In another German Auslander story, a maladapted and lovesick Romanian immigrant tried several times to commit suicide by throwing himself in front of a train in Dusseldorf. After numerous failed attempts (due to bystander interventions), the railway company sued him and he’s now in jail, where he may be getting a second chance through training (ed-rosuicide).

But Dorian G. is not representative for the diaspora thoughts of return. Only 47% of Romanians want to return, which is 10% less than in 2017. There’s a similar 10% decrease among those who want to invest, and those give agriculture 39% and tourism at 34% priority (hn-reintoarcere).

Those who do not want to return accuse these flaws of Romanian life as follows:

• corruption 83%
• current politics 72%
• mentalities 67%
• low standard of living 65%
• unemployment 40%

Of the above, the only honest one is, I think, the standard of living, as most of the others are present elsewhere, often in larger or more acute proportions.

It’s good to live in a world where you have the choice to stay or to return, but shouldn’t we offer that choice to those poorer than us? I think we should and I was under the impression that Romania was going to accept some of the 100 African migrants from Open Arms. Sadly, it turns out that only Spain, France, Germany, Luxembourg and Portugal will (hn-5states).

Sources / More info: mdr-racialprofiling, hn-reintoarcere (PDF), ed-rosuicide, vt-rromi, hn-5states