Slovenia’s government has been accused of turning Roma neighbourhoods into “security zones” after the passing of a law giving police powers to raid and surveil homes in so-called “high-risk” areas.
At midnight on Monday, the country’s parliament backed the “Šutar law”, named after Aleš Šutar, who was killed in an altercation with a 21-year-old Romany man after rushing to a nightclub after a distress call from his son.
The incident outside the LokalPatriot club in Novo Mesto, in south Slovenia, last month led to huge street protests, police being stationed in Roma neighbourhoods and the resignation of two ministers.
The prime minister, Robert Golob from the centre-left Freedom party, responded by promising new security measures, which he described as being “not against any particular ethnic group but against crime itself”.
But critics said the changes were discriminatory and “treat an entire minority as a security threat”.
The Act on Urgent Measures to Ensure Public Security, which was first introduced two weeks after Šutar’s death, was watered down before the final vote on Monday, but it retained a series of controversial clauses.
The police will, without a court order, be allowed to enter a property or means of transport in a “security-risk area” if “it is unavoidably necessary for the protection of people to immediately seize firearms”.
They will also be able to use to use technical means for photography and recording, such as drones or licence plate recognition, if people’s lives or property are deemed at risk.
Under the legislation, the “security-risk areas” will be geographically demarcated by the director general of the police or the director of the police administration, based on a security assessment.
Mensur Haliti, vice-president of the Roma Foundation for Europe, said the law was discriminatory and called on the European commission to examine its terms.
He said: “This law turns entire neighbourhoods into security zones and their residents into security categories. It lowers the political cost of targeting those already excluded from free and fair political participation for political gain.
“Slovenia has done something Europe rarely admits happens inside the union: it has passed a law that treats an entire minority as a security threat.
“A union that allows fear to become policy at home cannot lecture its neighbours about democracy and the rule of law. If Europe cannot uphold its standards internally, it cannot credibly demand them abroad.”
A leftwing coalition of political parties had refused to take part in the parliamentary proceedings, describing the law as repressive. But there is evidence of a high degree of public support for it.
Mediana for RTV Slovenia found that more than 60% of respondents to a survey expressed agreement with the government’s response.
The act was passed ahead of national elections in March, in which Golob’s party faces being unseated by the rightwing-nationalist Slovenian Democratic party led by former prime minister Janez Janša.
