Police in the coastal city of Tønsberg have charged a 27-year-old man with illegal use of fireworks and frightening behaviour after he ignited a rocket and aimed it at a camp where several Roma families were sleeping last week.
Newspaper Aftenposten reported that police first noticed the fireworks in the camp area and later stopped a car driven by the 27-year-old, who admitted he had set off the rocket. Private use of such fireworks was banned five years ago and police also charged him with frightening and harassing the campers.
No one was hurt in the incident. The young man said he was seeing “revenge,” not for racist reasons but because the Roma were camping in an area that he and other young men had used for nightly “low-riding” in their cars and for outdoor gatherings.
City officials, however, said the Roma were camping legally and had been provided with a toilet. The campers said they soon planned to leave Norway for the winter.
newsinenglish.no staff
