A GROUP of about 100 Roma attended a political rally of the second-running Smer party on August 12 to protest the policies of Smer leader Robert Fico. Fico's promise to reduce welfare benefits could affect some Roma families.
A report on the protest in the Pravda daily paper claimed the Roma, carrying placards with images of Ghandi and Martin Luther King and anti-Fico slogans, had left the rally after being asked by Fico to explain their presence.
"These are our Roma citizens - first they come to provoke us with placards, then they run away," the paper quoted Fico as saying.
