The Central Committee of German Sinti and Roma lodged a complaint against the special registration of this minority in Bavarian police files. The chairman of the Committee, Romani Rose, explained that this practice is maintained in Bavaria only and that it violates the law of equality and the international agreement about the protection of minorities.
The complaint accuses the Bavarian authorities to keep a special column „Sinti/Roma" in their questioning forms for supposed culprits. These data are saved electronically. In the records department there is also a column type "gypsy" or type "Sinti / Roma" in the forms for the description of unknow culprits.
This practice has been stopped in other federal states after protests of the state unions of the Sinti and Roma. Unlike definitions as „Asiatic" or „African" , the wording „personal type: Sinti / Roma" originates from the National Socialistic propaganda and not from reality, say the complaintants. The description of persons on the basis of external characteristics shows its stigmatizing cliché. It might also cause hate against the minority within the police staff.
The chairman of the South-Schleswig union of the Danish minority, Heinrich Schultz, emphasized at the press conference, that an avowal of a minority is a free one and must not be screened by the authorities or registrated by the police.
The representatives of the four minorities Danes, Frisians, Sinti, and Roma will meet at the end of August to deliberate on further international steps. The minister of state, Hermann Regensburger, stated that this registration is essential for the work of the police. Due to the Bavarian practice, a witness may also use definitions like „negroid" or „Oriental" to limit the circle of suspects.