East Ham, Mile End and Barking are some of the dodgiest bits of London. I guess in terms of pure safety I don't disagree they are worse than Basel. You might get hassled in Basel but the Roma are unlikely to knife you.

Scapegoating is where you falsely accuse someone of an activity another Party commited. I don't see how anyone could claim this is the case with the current situation in Basel. Are you saying people are dressing up as Roma and behaving in a threatening and antisocial manner?

I suspect what you are actually asking for is for them to be given a free pass on account of their ethnicity. Which would actually be kind of prejudicial in itself. They are mixed Asian / European - same as my daughter. My beef with them is their behaviour, not the colour of their skin.

My sister lived on the Barking Road at Plaistow in the mid 70s, that's was scary as hell. She passed a guy on the stairs going up to her flat, turned out he'd burgled her
We lived out at Upminster Bridge, back in 1988 our street had a spate of break ins in the lead up to Christmas. The Met police told us East End villains used to come out to Hornchurch / Upminster Bridge / Upminster as they knew they'd get better pickings than they'd get breaking into houses in the East End. Someone had 2 guys turn up with a van and ladders when they were out at work, the neighbours assumed they were roofers as they were up there. They were actually robbers accessing the house via the roof

I think it's the generalisations that can hurt. The "falsely accuse" part happens when there's a leap from looking at the specific individuals who are deemed to be causing trouble, into blaming all of any group (all beggars, all Roma, all Easern Europeans, all homeless) for a whole range of social problems.

This is nothing new.

TeleBasel did an interesting piece on it a litte while back : https://telebasel.ch/2020/08/26/repo...channel=105100

I get annoyed at British people when they blame the Polish or E Europeans in the country for "taking our jobs" etc. My late uncle was Polish, one of the many who found their way across Europe to Britain at the start of WW2 to join the Polish army. He was a wonderful man, generous and funny and he was taken away from us all too early when he was 67, he'd only been retired 2 years. My aunt never got over it, she's 97 and in care now.

I had a lot of school friends whose dads were Polish and also a lot of others whose parents or grandparents were Italian, my life has been better for growing up with those people.

OH on the other hand being from London, well a lot of his friends were from West Indian and Indian heritage. His best man is Iranian and my best friend in London is a Kiwi. Our best friend in Scotland is African American, another is Sikh. What a boring life it would be if we just all stuck to being with people from our own culture, I like a mixture much better

Agreed that generalisations are unfair and unhelpful. These particular people in Basel are causing trouble - doesn't need to go further than that.

Did anyone read Treverus' link until the end?

That's always been the case.

Crapping in the parks.

They've all got smartphones. How else do you think they keep themseleves amused.

Ugh, they are coming into Bern now. I’ve seen a few with the roses, but nothing like Basel. I hope it doesn’t get that bad ... probably one of the only times I will be on the side of SVP.

https://www.20min.ch/video/organisie...r-438945202697

I can totally see the naive ultra liberal Bernese catering to these guys ... blerg.

1. I also find it a bit weird that there is so little in the press on this. Probably because it
a) was just a "Vorstoss"... an idea to be discussed, not in practice yet
b) an offer, not any sort of forced deportation.

I honestly think this doesnt address the professional beggars. Because they are professionals. If they choose Basel then thats because they make money there. A cheap ticket and 20 EUR wont change that. The offer might work for the people who got stranded in Basel due to lock downs in FR and DE who would actually like to return home but cant. Lots of homeless like to spend the summers in the southern EU and the winters in places like Switzerland where the shelters are probably better than in Greece or Italy. I guess they would be tempted to fly out and then choose say Germany for their next winter.

Americans in Scotland?

Tom

I think the best thing would be for awareness raised among tourists to not give any money to beggars. Signs in main areas etc. Also, a small police patrol that goes at random intervals down the main areas checking permits etc.

While I think that is a very good idea...to be honest, there haven't been many tourists giving money to these people because they came around the start of the pandemic. Plenty of naïve people living in Switzerland who aren't used to seeing poverty (even if it is faked) and want to help.

Trump claims to be Scottish .

And African American too .

So maybe he is the friend referred to ?

What difference does it make if the signs are informing and educating tourists or locals? Ideally no-one, including locals, should be giving money to street beggars.

Ah, yes, thank you, that makes sense. I've also not been able to find it, as a concrete offer, anywhere.

Yes. I remember arriving in a central railway station in another country, and as I exited the building, being given a flyer by police wardens, in many languages, telling me not to give to beggars, and warning me of pick-pocketing, as those two often go hand in hand.

Yes, but you wrote tourists and I am simply pointing it out that it is not just tourists who give them money ...