Gazeta Wyborcza reported that Adam G., a Rom living in Poznan, was asked to leave the restaurant Cuba Libre because of the ban introduced by the restaurant’s owner. This happened twice. The situation provoked a widespread outrage – both the Polish Ombudsperson and the Helsinki Foundation For Human Rights intervened. The Ministry of the Interior announced they would help in the negotiations between the Roman community and the restaurants’ owners.
The talks between the Roma community, the owners of the restaurants and the representatives of the local authorities were planned for the mid-February. However due to the absence of the representatives of the restaurants’ owners they were nor carried out. In a letter the owners wrote that nor the Romani people neither any other group were ever discriminated in their premises and that they found no reasons for the negotiations.
Dorota Pudzianowska from the Helsinki Foundation For Human Rights believes there exist valid grounds for a civil action. The case of one of the Roma men is included in the anti-discrimination programme “Article 32” run by the Foundation. “Within the next couple of days Paweł Nowakowski, an attorney whom the Foundation asked to conduct the case will bring an action for the infringement of the personal rights” said Pudzianowska in February.
At the beginning of March, the case reached the regional court in Poznan. Adam G. claims that the situation in question violated his dignity. He demands an apology and that the restaurant pays 10 000 zloty (about 2,500 euro) to the local educational Roma association in Swarzędz.
