Vilnius considers plan to break up Roma town

DELFI / Mindaugas Ažušilis

The plan, presented by Deputy Mayor Gintautas Paluckas on Wednesday, would require €700,000 by the end of 2019.

“At the moment, 96 children live in the Taboras, each day they spend there is a lost day. Growing up in such conditions they will not grow to be normal citizens of Lithuania and there will be even more conditions for the Taboras to grow,” Paluckas told the Vilnius Council. The final decision is expected in two weeks.

The plan includes measures to fight drug use in the Roma town, offer educational opportunities and career counselling, improve healthcare, living standards and reduce social exclusion.

The police would also install four security cameras around the Roma town and perform raids of taxis taking people there.

Measures for Roma children would include informal education programmes and summer camps. Social workers would be employed to make sure that children from the Taboras attend schools and kindergartens.

The proposed plan also envisages a mobile clinic to help drug addicts, providing clean needles, bandages and information about rehabilitation programmes.

During raids in the Roma town last August-October, the police detained over 100 drug dealers and 1,700 drug users.

There are about 2,100 Roma people living in Lithuania, according to the 2011 census. The Taboras of Vilnius houses the biggest Roma community in the Baltic states.

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