E/CN.4/1997/71 page 21 ornate lettering of a tombstone. The attack where Gypsies had been living for more than 300 years was depicted by the police as mere accidents or a result of a blood feud.” 57. There have been allegations that “this incident has racist motivations and that the neo-Nazi Bavarian Liberation Army was responsible”. 58. It has been reported that on 6 February 1995, a bomb, disguised as an aerosol can, wounded a 29-year-old municipal garbage worker of Croat origin in Stinatz, which is mainly populated by Austrians of Coatian descent. The bomb was left near a school. A pamphlet at a bus stop in the town read “Go back to Dalmatia”. 2. (a) Reply by the Government of Austria in a note dated 4 April 1996 The case of arson at Bludenz 59. Fires broke out on 22 October, 5 November and 31 December 1994 in an uninhabited house at 25 St. Peterstrasse, 6700 Bludenz (Federal Province of Vorarlberg). Major damage was caused to the building, which was being renovated at the time. It has not been possible to ascertain the causes of the fire on 22 October; none the less, the circumstances suggest that it was arson. On the other hand, it is almost certain that the fires on 5 November and 31 December 1994 were criminal. The three fires caused damage, most of it attributable to the fire on 22 October 1994, worth almost 1 million Austrian schillings. 60. Almost half the damage is covered by insurance. According to Austrian police inquiries, the building had been purchased by an Austrian citizen, apparently on behalf of the “Union of Islamic Cultural Centres of Vorarlberg” (Verband des islamischen Kulturzentren Vorarlbergs), of which he was himself a member. Before the three fires, renovation work had begun with the intention of converting the empty building into flats for members of the Union and an Islamic prayer room. So far the Austrian police's thorough investigations and questioning have yielded no evidence to identify the culprits. Possible motives for the arson are unclear. 61. After the second fire the Austrian police ordered plain-clothes patrols of the district to protect the building. Unfortunately, the precautions failed to prevent the third fire. (b) The bomb attack at Oberwart 62. At about 7.30 a.m. on 5 February 1995 the partly mutilated bodies of four members of the Romany were found not far from the town of Oberwart (Federal Province of Burgenland). Examination of the scene of the crime and subsequent investigations led to the conclusion that the four were victims of a cowardly bomb attack. 63. Reconstruction of the incident showed that the four men had left the Rom camp in Oberwart at about 10.30 p.m. the day before (4 February 1995), heading for the place where they were to die. At about 11.45 p.m. many of the camp's