SCoJeC and the Glasgow Jewish Representative Council have issued a joint statement of support and solidarity with the Roma Community following the desecration of a memorial to Roma victims of the Nazis.

The Romani Rose Tree Memorial was planted in Queens Park in Glasgow by members of the Romano Lav earlier this year with a plaque to mark the Roma Genocide Memorial Day. This was the first memorial in Scotland to the memory of the hundreds of thousands of Roma who were murdered during the Holocaust.  The memorial was destroyed last weekend.

Romano Lav commented: "We are disgusted by this act of vandalism. That this hateful act occurred at all underscores the need for this memorial. It is especially important that this memorial is placed in Govanhill as Govanhill is where the vast majority of Roma people in Scotland call home."

Govanhill has also been home to other immigrant communities including many Jewish families who settled there when they fled the Russian pogroms and the Nazi Holocaust. There were once four synagogues in the area, and many Jewish people have fond memories of spending Shabbat afternoons in Queens Park.

The Jewish Community shares the disgust of the local community with this act of vandalism, and has issued this statement of sympathy and support. We will continue to work with others to build good relations and understanding between Scotland's diverse communities.