Krupka, Czech Republic: 500 Roma assemble, call for more security. Parents file a crime report over alleged sexual harassment of their children.
Several hundred Romani people assembled in Krupka in the Teplice area Tuesday afternoon. The demonstrators convened through social media in response to an incident that transpired on the local housing estate Sunday.
Several hundred Romani people assembled in Krupka in the Teplice area Tuesday afternoon. The demonstrators convened through social media in response to an incident that transpired on the local housing estate Sunday.
The protesters said they want to know what exactly happened at the Maršov housing estate and demanded more security. While the speaker making the opening remarks said that the demonstration would not be anti-Ukrainian, many people subsequently spoke against Ukrainians.
The group then set out for the local police station. Two representatives of the demonstrators described Sunday’s incident to the officers there; after they left the station, those participating began to disperse at around 19:30.
Ilona Gazdošová, spokesperson for the police, told journalists they did not have to intervene during the event. Police estimated that roughly 500 people were on the scene.
The tensions in Krupka were sparked by Sunday’s conflict among several people on the housing estate. The reason for the incident, according to local Romani residents, was that several foreign nationals had sexually harassed Romani children.
The parents of the children alleging harassment had not yet filed a crime report. They did so on Tuesday evening after the demonstration.
Detectives have charged a 33-year-old man from Moldova with disorderly conduct, the police tweeted earlier on Tuesday. The Aliens’ Police will be undertaking a deportation proceeding with him.
Police had previously refuted allegations on social media that Sunday’s incident involved Ukrainians, and some involved with the conflict had been drunk, according to police. On Tuesday afternoon, local Romani residents assembled on the housing estate and several other Romani people who have attended the other demonstrations which have been held by the Romani community in recent weeks in the Czech Republic also arrived on the scene.
“What happened is very emotional,” the convener of the demonstration said. According to local residents, Sunday’s incidents had been preceded by events about which the police should have informed the public.
“We want to warn society, the police, that the situation is not good, we are appealing for measures to be taken to make sure more such situations don’t happen,” said one speaker at the demonstration, who also said police did intervene boldly and quickly on the scene Sunday. Other speakers called for more security and more protection of the Romani community.
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“If the President is giving weapons to Ukrainians, he should give weapons to us, we can defend ourselves on our own,” one speaker said. Mayor of Krupka Jan Kuzma (Association of Dissatisfied Citizens – ANO) then appeared and did his best to calm the situation.
Kuzma said it was not possible for citizens to take security into their own hands. The speakers alternated between locals and others who had traveled there from Prague and other cities.
After one hour, the demonstrators marched to the police station. Two of their representatives went inside.
While the representatives were speaking with police, the demonstrators then marched through several streets on the housing estate. They stopped in front of some of the prefab apartment buildings and called for the Ukrainians there to come outside.
A car with Ukrainian license plates was parked in front of one of the apartment buildings, and the demonstrators threw garbage at the building. They then returned to the police station and the two representatives who had spoken with the police came back out and informed those assembled that nobody had filed a crime report about the incident that had preceded Sunday’s conflict.
The children alleging sexual harassment and their parents filed a crime report Tuesday
“The parents have not yet filed a crime report,” Alex Muraškin told the crowd. He and several other Romani people accompanied the three children and their parents who allege they were sexually harassed by foreign nationals Sunday at around 20:00 on Tuesday to the police station, where they filed a crime report to that effect.
“We girls were in the grove of trees, we were sitting on the little bench there and looking at our phone. These two guys came up to us, they were aggressive, they used dirty language. One of them grabbed my friend by the hand, but she pulled away from him and escaped. He wanted to grab me too, but I got away and he threw a beer can at me,” one of the girls alleging harassment told the police Tuesday evening.
“I was running away and I fell onto my hands, he was chasing us. One wore a red t-shirt, the other wore glasses,” the girl alleging harassment described.
Police later arrested a man wearing a red t-shirt and another wearing glasses who were involved in altercations with others. In response to a direct question from news server Romea.cz, police spokesperson Kamil Marek said Monday that no incidents with a sexual subtext had transpired.
“The course of the investigation so far is not confirming that this incident had a sexual subtext or was a morals offense,” Marek told news server Romea.cz in response to that question. On Tuesday, however, police spokesperson Ilona Gazdošová said police are still investigating the circumstances of the incident Sunday, including what precipitated the conflict itself.
Gazdošová said police had already interrogated some people and would be questioning others. “For tactical reasons I am unable to provide more detailed information,” she said.
