Polish football hooligans allegedly physically assault Romani man in Přerov, Czech Republic for objecting to their racist comments
Yesterday evening in Přerov, Czech Republic a 45-year-old Romani man was assaulted, and once again the attackers are alleged to have been football hooligans, this time apparently from Poland. The Romani man was hospitalized for his injuries.
Local Romani residents filmed the assailants driving away from the scene of the attack. Police in Přerov are addressing the entire incident and have opened a criminal prosecution on suspicion of the crimes of battery and rioting.
“On Sunday before 20:00, according to the preliminarhy investigation, a 45-year-old man was walking along Kojetínská Street from the market to Husova Street. According to eyewitness testimonies, unidentified men of foreign nationality were driving by in vehicles who insulted him and shouted at him. When he objected to their behavior, several of them got out of their vehicles and ran after him. The man who had been targeted by their insults wanted to escape, but a number of the foreign nationals caught up with him and assaulted him by kicking and punching him all over his body. They then got back in their cars and drove toward Husova Street,” police spokesperson Miluše Zajícová told news server Romea.cz.
“My wife and grandchildren and I took a walk to buy some food for a barbecue and on our way home we passed by these cars from which those men were shouting racist abuse. Our grandkids were with us, so I yelled at them to calm down, that there were children there,” Jaroslav Džuga told news server Romea.cz.
The aggressors’ attack happened quite quickly. “About 20 guys ran up to me. My wife escaped with the children because she was afraid. The guys caught up with me, pushed me to the ground and began kicking me. They called me a ‘black mug’ the whole time,” Džuga said.
Luciano Karala, a relative of Džuga, saw the assault through a window. “We heard those men shouting racist abuse, so I looked out of the window. I noticed cars parked in the road with Polish license plates. It all happened really quickly. The group of more than 20 men jumped out of the cars and ran up to him. They beat him down, then quickly retreated and drove away,” Karala told Romea.cz, who also managed to film the attackers’ departure with his smartphone.
After the assailants drove off, eyewitnesses called the police and an ambulance. “I was lying on the ground, I felt like sleeping. The police, my wife, and other people were standing around me. They kept telling me not to fall asleep,” Džuga said.
“The police were on the scene quickly. They told us to take him to the hospital ourselves. We told them we had called an ambulance, but it didn’t arrive for more than 45 minutes,” Karala described the situation after the attack.
According to the police spokesperson, emergency services brought the injured man to the hospital for treatment. “With respect to this isolated incident we have opened a criminal proceedings on suspicion of the crimes of battery and rioting,” she told Romea.cz.
