Kutná Hora, Czech Republic: 200 Romani people demonstrate after Romani man is assaulted, march to the home of the alleged perpetrator, who is Ukrainian
Approximately 200 Romani people assembled on a square in Kutná Hora, Czech Republic in the late afternoon of Tuesday, 30 April to protest the assault on a local Romani man that happened there Sunday evening. Several speeches were made and the crowd then marched to a building where the citizens from Ukraine who allegedly were involved in the incident are said to reside.
At about 19:00 the demonstrators started peacefully dispersing. “On Sunday, about five Ukrainians assaulted Martin Sivák for no reason. We are here to express our disagreement with that,” Jan Červeňák, one of the organizers of the protest, claimed in his opening remarks.
“We also chiefly want to draw attention to the approach of the paramedics and police, there are some things we don’t like about it,” Červeňák said, who also expressed his thanks to the police later in his remarks. He also reminded those assembled of other examples of Romani people being assaulted by Ukrainians and criticized the mild punishments for such violence, which he claimed have just been fines because the incidents were assessed as misdemeanors.
“We’re tired of this, the next time a Ukrainian guy assaults one of our guys for no reason we will take the matter into our own hands. That means we will find the person responsible and we will take it into our hands. This is a message from Kutná Hora. This is not a threat, we’re sick of this,” Červeňák said into the megaphone, adding that in Kutná Hora, Romani people are even ready to form a militia if necessary.
“This is a message to the Ukrainians who live in Kutná Hora,” Červeňák said. The son of the Romani man who was assaulted then addressed the demonstration and said his father is not well.
“He’s been in bad shape all day, he’s broken up, psychologically, and he was unable to give a statement to the police today because of it,” Martin Sivák’s son said. Other speakers expressed fear for the safety of their children.
“If one’s child goes outside, one doesn’t know whether he will make it home again. [The Ukrainians] are fixated on our Romani nation,” one speaker said.
“I have children and I am afraid to let them go outside,” the man told the crowd. A Romani woman in the crowd agreed with him and then addressed the demonstration herself.
“We love Kutná Hora, we’ve lived here all this time, but why should I let my grandkids go outside so some foreigners can do something to them? We won’t call for an eye for an eye or a tooth for a tooth today. That’s not the right thing to do, but they should leave us in peace. They aren’t all bad people,” the Romani woman said.
Marco Cavalli, co-founder of the Association of Romani Entrepreneurs, Social Enterprises, Societies and Tradespeople, said in his speech that “I’m not from Kutná Hora, but I do not like what happened here. Our fellow citizens keep assaulting Romani people here, I don’t like it,” he said.
“Why are there never conflicts between us Romani people and the Vietnamese community? There are just conflicts with this kind of person here, all the time. I am not condemning Ukraine, I feel sorry for these people because they have that war there. However, I don’t like people who are abusing the situation now specifically in Kutná Hora,” Cavalli said, calling on Czech Interior Minister Vít Rakušan to strengthen police patrols locally.
“This system is not working. How much more proof is needed for the authorities to begin checking the data they have on foreign nationals?” Cavali asked.
“This is our home and we have the same rights as everybody else,” Cavali added. After half an hour of speeches, the demonstrators marched to the building where, according to the organizers, the citizens from Ukraine who assaulted Martin Sivák currently reside.
“This is our home!” the demonstrators chanted during the march. After 20 minutes they arrived in front of the building where the alleged assailants reside, where several police officers were standing outside.
The head of the police department’s riot units, Jan Štáf, explained the steps the police have already taken in the case to the protesters. The assault on the Romani man took place on Sunday evening.
Video footage from the incident was posted to social media that shows a Ukrainian-speaking man perpetrating the assault. Other people, apparently also Ukrainians, can be seen trying to drag the evidently drunken man away from the scene of the incident to prevent him from continuing his aggressive behavior.
In the footage, the aggressive Ukrainian is even punched by one of his fellow Ukrainians to restrain him. Police spokesperson Pavel Truxa told news server Romea.cz that “The Kutná Hora police are investigating the circumstances of the incident that happened in the evening hours of Sunday, 28 April. According to the information obtained so far, a scuffle broke out in front of a bar in Kutná Hora between two men, during which a 42-year-old man assaulted a man who was one year older than him.”
“The police have opened a criminal proceedings for suspected disorderly conduct and are currently performing all the procedures necessary to clarify this entire incident. The case is supervised by the District Attorney’s Office in Kutná Hora,” the police spokesperson said.
The case is being followed by Czech Government Commissioner for Roma Minority Affairs Lucie Fuková and by Cyril Koky, the Central Bohemian Regional Coordinator for Ethnic Minorities. “I personally will never appear at any demonstrations against Ukraine. I am not the kind of person who is going to bawl into a megaphone. I will always advocate constructive dialogue and substantive solutions,” Koky told news server Romea.cz after spending the whole day in Kutná Hora meeting with representatives of the town leadership and police.
