STEPHEN FEE:

Here in what was once Hungary's industrial heartland, the vast majority of Miskolc's Gypsy — or Roma — population is unemployed. The evictions are the latest chapter in a history of strained relations with their non-Roma neighbors.

It's a tension that's hardly unique to Miskolc — or even Hungary.

Since their ancestors arrived in Europe from India some 600 years ago, Roma people have been enslaved, expelled, and ethnically cleansed. Hundreds of thousands were slaughtered during World War II.

More recently, France deported thousands of Roma who overstayed visa requirements in 2010 — the EU's justice minister called the expulsions 'a disgrace.'

Fears of crime have motivated anti-Roma feelings across Europe. And headlines about Roma criminal rings help drive those perceptions.