Brno, Czech Republic: Saturday's demonstration is cancelled, organizer feared more fatalities

Plachetková reiterated her rejection of the principle of collective guilt and said she wants the case of the murder of a Romani youth last Saturday to be fairly investigated. “The wrong people got hold of this event and turned it completely upside-down,” she said.

Statement by the organizer of Saturday’s cancelled demonstration

I would like to express my view of the entire situation with the demonstration and everything that has happened. My aim from the beginning was to calmly disseminate news of the demonstration. What I wanted to spread was the message that it would not be about collective guilt, but that the investigation of the case should be fair.

The wrong people got hold of this event and turned it completely upside-down. I am afraid that if the demonstration were to go ahead, it would have fatal results. The kind of people who would show up would be ones whom we would not be able to vet in advance. I cannot identify with spreading hate, I don’t want to do so. As I’ve mentioned more than once, I know what racism is, I know what it is to be tarred with the same brush as everybody else. I constantly encounter that, and I believe it won’t just end, which is why I wanted to do this the right way, not to do it in that same way, because I know what that feels like.

I am really sorry to be cancelling the demonstration this Saturday, because its aim was really important to me. What was in my heart was that this case has to be investigated thoroughly, that more attention has to be paid to security here in the Czech Republic, and mainly, that the individual who perpetrated this crime has to be punished – not that collective guilt be spread. I don’t want to tar everybody with the same brush just because of their nationality. I believe that all of my live broadcasts, everything about how I expressed myself, sent that message and planted a seed that should have been planted, it reached the right people. I also believe the Police of the Czech Republic, just because of the number of people who are following this entire situation, will thoroughly investigate the entire case so it can be resolved as it should be.

I believe that everything I’ve said about this event and about what happened won’t be forgotten. Many people were moved by it and shared it, it had an enormous influence. Let’s wait for the police results, I hope they will resolve the case as it should be resolved. Please, I am appealing to you all, let’s wait for the Czech Police to report what it finds, let’s not take to the streets, let’s not beat up innocent people or yell at them.

That’s all from me, have a good one.

In Brno, 14 June 2023