Die Weltwoche sparks anger over 'racist' Roma story

[Gerald]

The council for Germany's Roma (Gypsies) has gone to court to get a Swiss magazine banned in the country after it used an image of a Roma boy pointing a gun on its cover.

Headlined "The Roma are coming", Die Weltwoche's publication amounts to racial incitement, the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma says.

The agency that supplied the picture says its meaning was distorted.

Die Weltwoche deputy editor Philipp Gut said the article was justified.

He accepted that it had sparked outrage but said it highlighted growing "crime tourism" in Switzerland.

The article was headlined "They come, they steal and they go" and suggested: "Roma families from Eastern Europe are responsible for a large part of the increasing crime tourism".

It examined issues such as prostitution and the use of children for begging and theft, adding caveats that not all Roma are involved.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17687435

Note: 12 April 2012 Last updated at 11:27 GMT