PRAGUE, Czech Republic, April 8 (UPI) -- Czech gypsy leaders have issued a renewed call for the removal of a pig farm from a World War II concentration camp where hundreds of Roma died.
The CTK news agency said Friday the head of the Board of Romany Regional representatives, Ondrej Gina, started a petition asking Czech authorities to separate off a memorial at the Lety camp from the pig farm, which was built under communism in the 1970s.
Gypsy leaders have in the past tried and failed to get the government to intervene on the issue.
Records show 326 Roma died in the camp. Human rights groups and the Roma leadership say the presence of a pig farm on the site is an insult to the memory of those who died.
There are up to 300,000 gypsies in the Czech Republic. Many are unemployed and face discrimination from mainstream society. Ordinary Czechs, however, blame the Roma for engaging in high levels of criminality.
