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05. 06. 12. - 15:00

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05. 06. 12. - 15:00

Dozens of Roma intoxicated with toxic waste after local authorities moved them in a former plant

Michael Leidig

Some 2,000 Roma have been evicted from the outskirts of Baia Mare (North West Romania) and moved to a former laboratory of a metallurgical plant, amid containers with dangerous chemicals and other toxic substances, Romania TV news channel informs today (Tues).

Several dozen people, including children, have been intoxicated with chemical substances abandoned in the plant, known in Romania as 'The Death Plant'. The metallurgical plant Cuprom in Copsa Mica outside Baia Mare has been closed down in 2005 as it was the biggest polluter in the country.

Since last weekend when the moving operation finished, dozens of ambulances have been called to the site as people got sick due to intoxication with chemical substances.  The former metallurgical site is full of containers with unknown substances and the laboratory of the plant is disparaged, in open air.

The Roma community was evicted from the city's outskirts and their fortune houses demolished by order of the municipality. Because they do not have where to go, the local authorities decided to move the families, several hundred people, in the former metallurgical plant.

Two years ago the Mayor of the city Cătălin Cherecheş decided to build a two-meter wall to separate the city from the place where the Roma community was living. The move sparked protests in Romania and in Europe as well.

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