Vienna  - Europe's human rights agencies on Tuesday voiced concern about discrimination and violence against Roma, warning that members of the ethnic group were at an increased risk of becoming scapegoats in the current economic climate.

The European Union's Fundamental Rights Agency, the European Council's human rights commissioner and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, said in a statement they were "deeply concerned (...) by the recent escalation in hate motivated incidents and racist rhetoric reported in a number of States."

On the occasion of the International Roma Day on Wednesday, the organizations called on politicians and the media to help avoid inciting ethnic tensions.

Their statement was issued on the same day that the home of a Hungarian Roma politician was set ablaze at dawn in what police believe was a deliberate attack.

The attack took place in Tatarszentgyorgy, a village that was the scene of a brutal murder of a Roma father and son in February.

In the European Union, 50 per cent of Roma say they have been the victims of discrimination in the last 12 months, according to an upcoming report by the Vienna-based Fundamental Rights Agency.

In an incident in Serbia on Saturday, incensed locals prevented authorities from erecting housing containers for Roma families in their neighbourhood outside Belgrade, according to media reports.

In Hungary, a Roma father and son were gunned down in February as they fled their burning home. Although the motive for the attack has not been proven, the case is widely assumed to have been racially motivated and has become a symbol of rising racial tension.(dpa)