Czech Police investigating male teacher accused of assaulting Romani boy, ambulance called to the scene, Commissioner Fuková following the case

“The assault happened during recess, when the male teacher told my son to go into the classroom. Recess wasn’t over yet, so my son wanted to stay where he was. The male teacher got angry and began pushing my son into the classroom. When my son protested, the male teacher grabbed him by the throat, kicked his legs out from under him and started choking him as he lay on the floor,” the father of the pupil told news server Romea.cz.

After that, according to the father, a female teacher intervened in the situation and started shouting at the male teacher to let go of the Romani boy. “My daughter, who attends the same school, arrived on the scene just as the incident was transpiring, and she also started shouting at the male teacher for him to let her brother go. The male teacher then let go of my son and started shouting abuse at my daughter. The male teacher then told the other children to go back into their classrooms so they couldn’t witness what had happened,” the father claimed. The male teacher is then said to have called an ambulance to the school and police were subsequently summoned there as well.

According to the boy’s father, on Thursday evening the school sent a message to all parents about the incident. “They wrote that an ambulance was called for a pupil, but they didn’t say why. They allege that we, the parents, assaulted the staff and the emergency medical workers. That’s why police were called, they claim,” the father of the pupil told news server Romea.cz.

The father has published the school’s message to his Facebook profile, which reads: “Today we called an ambulance for a pupil and informed his parents. After they arrived at the school, the parents got into a conflict with the emergency medical responders and school staff, which is why police had to be called,” the principal alleged.

The father described the situation from his family’s perspective to Romea.cz and stressed that his partner, the child’s mother, had just wanted to learn what had happened to her son. “What happened was the emergency medical responder did not want to allow the boy’s mother into the room where he was. He prevented her from going to her child. My girlfriend weighs 50 kg, there were three different emergency responders standing in her way, so physically overpowering one of them was certainly not something she could have done. They began to verbally argue, and when they wouldn’t allow her to see her child, she pushed one of them aside slightly and pushed her way into the room so she could be with her son,” the father explained to Romea.cz.

According to the father, one of the emergency responders then called the police, apparently out of concern for his own personal safety. “He called the police, apparently he was afraid for his own personal safety because of my girlfriend who weighs 50 kg and is 160 cm tall,” the father said with irony.

Principal: Under no circumstances was this an assault on a pupil by a teacher

On Saturday evening the principal of ZŠ Koryčany, Martina Lungová, published a more detailed statement on the school website in which she rejects the allegation that the male teacher assaulted the pupil and accused the father of the pupil of publishing untrue allegations about the incident.

“As the father of this pupil has stated, his son suffers from health problems and is supposed to take medication. For that reason, at the school we have agreed that if this pupil’s problems should worsen, we’ll call an ambulance. That’s exactly what happened on Thursday and the school worker addressed the situation according to the agreed-upon procedure. There is not the slightest reason to believe the teacher assaulted the pupil. After the parents of the pupil arrived at the school, the situation got out of hand. The Police of the Czech Republic are investigating how exactly the entire situation transpired,” the principal said, adding that the incident took place during the break between the fifth and sixth hour of instruction.

“After the father of the pupil published video footage capturing part of the situation (including how the father of the pupil threatens the residents of Koryčany), the parents of other pupils began to contact us out of concerns for the safety of their own children,” Lungová said. Based on those concerns, measures were taken by the school in collaboration with the Police of the Czech Republic. “That’s why we agreed with the Police of the Czech Republic to have increased surveillance by the police at the school buildings the next day,” the principal said.

The father of the assaulted pupil said he realizes he made inappropriate remarks on social media. “Yesterday and today I made inappropriate remarks in my live broadcast. I said that in Koryčany it’s starting to be a problem now, because up until now we’ve been polite, but now that they’ve started beating my children, the situation has changed. The mayor didn’t like that,” the father told news server Romea.cz. He subsequently contacted the mayor and apologized. “Today I called her, apologized, and she accepted my apology. She understood I had been emotional. I filmed a live broadcast in which I publicly apologized to the citizens of Koryčany and the mayor,” he added.

The pupil’s father also stressed that his criticism had not been aimed at all local residents, but just at the specific individual who is said to have assaulted his son. “I am aware that this is not the responsibility of anybody but the individual who attacked my son,” the father told Romea.cz.

According to Lungová, this was decidedly not a racially-motivated incident. “Other Romani children have been attending our school in the past and do today, ethnicity was not a cause of this disagreement,” the principal said.

“This entire incident has been unnecessarily escalated by the family of the pupil and casts a bad light on the employees of the school. We are considering taking legal steps against the family,” Lungová added to her online statement.

Police: We are not underestimating this incident and investigating thoroughly

Police are investigating the incident and are warning that disinformation is being spread about it through social media. They reject the idea that they would cover up aggressivity at the school in any way.

“Statements are being shared through social media about an assault on a pupil by a teacher from a primary school in the Zlín Region. Authors of other online posts allege that police are not investigating and that we are ‘covering up’ aggressivity at the school. The fact is that in the video footage that has been published, a police officer is documented addressing this matter on the spot, so the argument that we are not doing so does not hold up,” the police posted to Facebook on Saturday morning.

“For the time being we have not discovered any circumstances which would indicate this was a felony and everything so far is being investigated at the level of a misdemeanor hearing – which, however, under no circumstances means we are underestimating this incident. The opposite is the case, our aim is to clarify everything as soon as possible,” wrote the police, adding that because one of the participants is a minor child, they will not be publicizing the details of the investigation. “Basically, there are no interesting details to this case, and for that reason we will stay in close contact with the representatives of the local Romani community and do our best to ensure there is mutual understanding and an explanation of the situation,” the police posted.

Czech Government Commissioner for Roma Minority Affairs Lucie Fuková is in contact with the family of the assaulted pupil

The case is also being followed by Lucie Fuková, Czech Government Commissioner for Roma Minority Affairs, who is in contact with the family and monitoring the situation.

“I have been informed about the conflict at ZŠ Koryčany by members of the local Romani community there. Any violence in the schools, which are meant to be safe places, is unacceptable. If it is related to racism, that makes it especially reprehensible. Right now it is necessary to properly investigate the whole situation and listen to all sides, which the Police of the Czech Republic, according to all the information I have received, is working on,” she told Romea.cz.

“I am in contact with the civil society members of the Czech Government Council for Roma Minority Affairs and with the Regional Romani Coordinator in the Zlín Region, who plans to visit Koryčany and ascertain the exact circumstances of this incident. I am also in contact with the boy’s family. It would certainly also be good to arrange for psychological aid, for mediation between the family and the school, above all in the interests of this child and all other children at the school. At this moment, though, it is necessary to wait for the next details in the case and not to spread information and speculations which are unverified,” she said.