BUCHAREST, Romania - Thousands of fans booed pop star Madonna after she spoke out against the discrimination of Gypsies in eastern Europe during one of her concerts.
Madonna paused in the two-hour concert to say that Gypsies, also known as Roma, were discriminated against in eastern Europe. She said that made her “sad” and nobody should be discriminated against.
Thousands in the crowd of 60,000 booed her. She did not react.


Roma musicians and a Roma dancer were featured
in her show, held just yards from the giant palace of ex-communist
dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. Their performances were applauded by the
crowd.
There are
officially some 500,000 Roma in Romania, but the real number could be
around 2 million. They face prejudice and discrimination in Romania and
other east European nations.