THE LOURES social housing projects of Quinta da Fonte exploded into violence over the weekend with armed confrontations between groups of gypsies and Portuguese Africans.
Nine people were wounded and several cars wrecked in the violence which exploded last Friday evening requiring hundreds of PSP agents to restore calm.
Gypsy families claim discrimination and, fearful of reprisals, left their homes and tried to break into empty properties on nearby housing estates.
Rahul Kumar, a sociologist at the Human and Social Sciences Investigation Centre at Númena, said: “This (Quinta da Fonte) re-housing project did not take into account specific cultural differences between different ethnic groups and failed to promote intercultural coexistence. On the contrary, it reinforced social segregation.”
Do you have a view on this story? Email: editor@the-resident.com
