Brno, Czech Republic: Group of people mourning deceased Romani man attacks Russian/Ukrainian speakers, Romani figures condemn their attack
On Monday evening an attack was committed against two men speaking either Russian or Ukrainian in the center of Brno by a group of people who had attended a commemorative event for the Romani youth who was murdered last Saturday. The incident transpired on Dominikánské Square at a local restaurant where the men were sitting outside and conversing.
Several youths who were walking through the city overheard the mens’ conversation and assaulted them. Videos of the incident show them throwing chairs and tables at the men.
The assailants also insulted those whom they targeted using vulgar language. Nobody was physically injured during the attack.
Local online news server Brněnská drbna (“Brno Gossip”) reported the news. Several state police patrols and city police officers went to the scene.
Police arrested three people. “We got the situation under control in a very short amount of time. We arrested three persons who are waiting to be interrogated so we can determine what happened. Because the investigation is ongoing we cannot provide more information at this time,” police spokesperson Bohumil Malášek told the news server on Monday.
“The Municipal Police operations center immediately sent five vehicle patrols which arrived in the center of Brno at the same time as the state police. Officers of the Police of the Czech Republic assisted, the city police did not intervene in the situation,“ Jakub Ghanem, spokesperson for the Brno Municipal Police, commented on the case.
Žaneta Plachetková, the convener of a demonstration in Brno this coming Saturday over the death of a Romani youth at the Brno Reservoir last weekend, has distanced herself from Monday’s incident. “I am clearly saying to everybody that I am against collective guilt. People also tar all of us Roma with the same brush, but that is something I reject,” she said.
“We want the case to be fairly investigated,” Plachetková said of the Monday incident, adding that she rejects any attacks against temporarily protected Ukrainians in the Czech Republic. Other Romani figures have also rejected the principle of collective guilt and such attacks, such as the country’s first Czech Government Commissioner for Roma Minority Affairs, Lucie Fuková, local politician Karel Karika, activist Jaroslav Miko and others.
