For decades during the summer, Roma have been staying in forest camps in central and western Ukraine as they seek part-time work. At one such settlement on the outskirts of the city of Lviv, a popular tourist destination, a seemingly normal day turned deadly on the evening of June 23.
The residents of the camp had just finished their supper — some were going to bed, others were gathering near the fire — when shortly before midnight, according to witnesses, they overheard people calling out obscenities from somewhere in the dark. Suddenly, a group of knife-wielding attackers wearing masks burst into the camp, smashing tents, tossing and vandalizing property and yelling “Gypsies, get out!”
