Parliament approves law giving police powers to raid and surveil homes in what are demarcated as security risk areas
Slovenia’s government has been accused of turning Roma neighbourhoods into “security zones” after the passing of a law giving police powers to raid and surveil homes in so-called “high-risk” areas.
At midnight on Monday, the country’s parliament backed the “Šutar law”, named after Aleš Šutar, who was killed in an altercation with a 21-year-old Romany man after rushing to a nightclub after a distress call from his son.
The incident outside the LokalPatriot club in Novo Mesto, in south Slovenia, last month led to huge street protests, police being stationed in Roma neighbourhoods and the resignation of two ministers.
The prime minister, Robert Golob from the centre-left Freedom party, responded by promising new security measures, which he described as being “not against any particular ethnic group but against crime itself”.
