Brno, Czech Republic: City addresses conflict between Roma and Ukrainians, hopes to refute disinformation and strengthen dialogue
Brno City Hall says that it wants to focus on calming the tensions which have emerged between its Romani and Ukrainian residents. At a meeting on Monday between representatives of both communities with the local and state police, they agreed to strive to refute disinformation and plan to also beef up communications about subjects important to each community.
Filip Poňuchálek, press spokesperson for the city, issued a press release about the meeting. The situation has been tense ever since a young Romani man lost his life to violence near the Brno Reservoir.
In mid-June the Romani community held a demonstration over the death in Brno. Last week a video circulated on social media showing a group of Roma chanting anti-Ukrainian slogans outside a residential hotel occupied by foreign nationals and marching through the streets.
“Events like the march on the residential hotel affect all city residents irrespective of nationality or social status. We want to send a clear signal that we are prepared to solve problems together,” said Vice-Mayor for social issues Robert Kerndl (Civic Democratic Party – ODS).
Police patrols have increased their activity near the streets of Bratislavská, Cejl and Francouzská on the basis of previous negotiations. The main subject of Monday’s meeting was the spread of disinformation.
City Hall wants to establish and then have city institutions approve a basic regime for how to cope with disinformation. The plan is to reach out to communities through social media.
“At the beginning we will concentrate especially on subjects associated with the current mood after the human tragedy that transpired in the Bystrc neighborhood at the reservoir, especially among the Romani minority. This will deal primarily with correcting the record with regard to the disinformation, hoaxes or manipulative allegations which apparently are being intentionally spread through social media by certain individuals,” Poňuchálek said.
The persons responsible are using live video broadcasts on social media to spread disinformation with the aim of radicalizing their audience, the spokesperson said. The Internet is spreading rumors about Romani children allegedly being kidnaped by “Ukrainians”, for example.
“We believe that if this activity has the auspices not just of the city, but also of the security forces, the nonprofit organizations and the local initiatives, then the communications instrument at issue could become a reliable source of verified information for both communities and the majority society,” the press spokesperson said. Brno City Hall says it wants to keep focusing on subjects related to both communities’ everyday lives.
The Ukrainians are currently dealing with the lack of room in Brno’s high schools for their children. Romani residents are expressing concern over a lack of social aid for them, which they believe is instead being concentrated on temporarily protected Ukrainians.
Veronika Štiglerová of the Brno-based IQ Roma servis organization confirmed the mood among Romani residents remains tense. “It’s not like a mass march on the Ukrainians is being organized, though. That’s more about individuals whom the others then join. We are planning a community meeting at the start of August nevertheless where we will address this subject of disinformation in particular and discuss these fears. Our social workers are currently undertaking a survey in which they are asking people what they are most interested in,” she said.
