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The leaders of an association of Roma people in Catalonia have been forced to resign after an article on its website claimed that the region’s Gypsies were "elite" when compared with Roma in other parts of Spain.
The Agipcat association announced the resignations of its president and manager after publishing an apology for the article, which stated that Catalan Roma are blessed with “better manners, personal hygiene and lifestyle” than their counterparts in Castile or other parts of Spain.
In a statement, Agipcat said that it was completely against such sentiments “directed against Gypsy people” and apologised for the fact that the article had not been properly reviewed before publication.
The text, written by Salvador Carrasco, an award-winning sociologist associated with Barcelona University, and M. Melània Gómez, a schoolteacher, claimed to be an anthropological study of Roma people in Catalonia, whom it described as an “elite” among their race.
Catalan Roma, the authors contended, comprise “a group of families more or less related to each other, who have a certain social and economic status."
The article went on: "The majority are Catalan-speaking, with a remarkable level of education, fluid relationships with non-Gypsies and have their own businesses in the trade sector”.
Catalan Roma, the article said, are “modern and civilised”, unlike “Romanian, immigrant or poor Gypsies” elsewhere in Spain, such as Castilian Roma, whom the authors described as “conflictive".
The article, which was published on November 26, celebrated as the Day of the Arrival of the Gypsy People in Catalonia, noted that Catalan Roma “participate in the process of building the Catalan nation, within a certain pluralism and an explicit Catalan affiliation”.
Mr Carrasco, who was an active contributor to Agipcat’s gitanos.cat website, was approached by The Telegraph for comment.
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