The life of Roma gypsies
- 1/14
A member of Romania's ethnic Roma minority arrives at Bucharest airport
REUTERS - 2/14
French CRS police evacuate families and remove their caravans from an illegal camp housing about 114 Roma in Saint-Priest
REUTERS - 3/14
A Roma child, a refugee from Kosovo, plays with a plastic bottle at the camp Vrela Ribnicka in Podgorica
REUTERS - 4/14
A Roma boy holds his dog in his family's apartment at the Avas apartment block in Miskolc
REUTERS - 5/14
A Roma family stands in their apartment at the Avas apartment block in Miskolc
REUTERS - 6/14
A Roma family gathers at the balcony of their apartment at the Avas apartment projects in Miskolc
REUTERS - 7/14
A Roma girl holds her pet dog during the traditional ethnic Roma festival in Costesti
REUTERS - 8/14
Self proclaimed international king of gypsies Stanescu gestures with his golden plated mobile phone in hand during the traditional ethnic Roma festival in Costesti
REUTERS - 9/14
Self proclaimed international king of gypsies Stanescu sits among relatives at a table with a roasted pig on display during the traditional ethnic Roma festival in Costesti
REUTERS - 10/14
Children from Romania families play in front of makeshift shelters in a camp near the Garonne river in Toulouse
Reuters - 11/14
A Roma refugee from Kosovo holds an umbrella at the Vrela Ribnicka camp in Podgorica
REUTERS - 12/14
Roma refugees from Kosovo play with water at the Vrela Ribnicka camp in Podgorica
REUTERS - 13/14
Members of Romania's ethnic Roma minority throw flower petals into Dambovita river during a commemoration ceremony next to the Holocaust Memorial in Bucharest
REUTERS - 14/14
Priest Ganga, a member of Romania's Roma ethnic minority, baptizes a child during a very rare mass Orthodox baptism ceremony at a church in the Bora neighbourhood in Slobozia
REUTERS
The Roma are descendants of nomads who moved out of what is now India 800 years ago. They speak a distinct language, a variation of Hindi. They have been forcibly resettled through the ages and were put in concentration camps during World War II. More than 1 million Roma are believed to be living in Romania, a country of about 22 million. There is widespread prejudice against Roma, who are often unemployed and lack formal education because they do not always send their children to school. Because of poverty and prejudice, Roma often travel to Italy, Spain, France and Britain, where they beg, busk, live off welfare benefits or get involved in petty crime, according to authorities in those countries. (AP)