Invercargill bad for abuse, gypsies say

A group of about 60 gypsies say Invercargill is among the worst places in New Zealand for abuse after visiting the city over Easter weekend for the annual Gypsy Fair.

About 60 gypsies travel throughout the country in mobile homes with their families for eight months each year.

A group of them told the Southland Times they had things thrown at them and were verbally abused during their weekend in Invercargill, as had been the case in past years.

"This is the worst town in New Zealand. We dread coming here, it's that bad," fortune teller Helena Beissel said.

They said people had been driving past their camp next to Queens Park hurling abuse, throwing eggs and bottles at their mobile homes and tooting their car horns throughout each night of their stay.

They had also wandered into their camp and banged against their mobile homes in the early hours, and a bike had also been stolen, the gypsies said.

The abuse was an annual occurrence in the city, they said, with the only city that compared being Palmerston North.

Gypsy Fair field manager Gavin Mackenzie said he believed there were about "10 to 20 bloody idiots".

"If they are not throwing eggs it's beer bottles," he said.

He also made mention of past bad behaviour in Gore.

"If you go to Gore it's dead rabbits they throw at you."

Gypsy Fair merry-go-round owner Cam Taylor said Invercargill residents were marvellous and some abuse was to be expected when you were a gypsy.

"The reality is we aren't all drug-smoking idiots."

- NZPA