Roma settlement at the seaside park Køge Bugt Strandpark in the western suburbs of Copenhagen has been a cause of great frustration for local residents and employees of the park.
Ruth Swedenborg, who lives in Avedøre Holme near the park, complains that not a day goes by that she picks up litter dropped by the Roma community, which has settled in an area, where camping is not permitted.
“There can be 30, 40 or 50 [cars], and when there are so many, you don’t feel like parking there and going for a stroll,” Swedenborg told TV2 Lorry.
Swedenborg maintains that particularly the elderly residents do not feel safe outdoors and suspect the Roma are responsible for the increase in burglaries in the area.
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Human faeces everywhere
Employees of the public beach park have been forced to lock the area’s toilets with screws or the Roma would break in and damage the door handles, noted operations assistant Gary Longsdale.
Longsdale further explained that the community has been using the toilets also for personal hygiene, leaving them in such a state that the company hired to clean them has refused to do so as long as the Roma camp is there.
Because of the locked toilets, human faeces are littering the area now.
Complaints to the police have not been taken seriously, according to the locals.
