Přerov, Czech Republic: Dozens of Romani people peacefully protest outside police station, demanding investigation of assault on a little girl, police are investigating

According to the police spokesperson, the police have been investigating the case since yesterday afternoon. “Two or three kids assaulted the little girl and allegedly waved a knife at her. She became afraid and began shouting. Other guys who were there stood up for her and then they all began to run away,” local Romani community member Ivan Kandráč described the incident to news server Romea.cz.

The girl’s mother went to the police and wanted to file a crime report, but according to her, the policewoman who dealt with her allegedly belittled the entire situation. According to Kandráč, the communication of the police with the mother was unprofessional.

According to information obtained by news server Romea.cz, the mother of the assaulted little girl received a copy of a protocol from the policewoman entitled “Official Record of Explanation Given”. However, according to local residents, that record was not enough, because the mother had originally wanted to file a crime report.

“This is an example of how the Ukrainians are behaving toward us Roma, and when we want to file a crime report, the police consider it ‘giving an explanation’,” commented one of the Romani people who broadcast the assembly in Přerov live on Facebook. However, according to the attorney Kláry Kalibová, director of the In IUSTITIA organization, which provides legal aid to victims of bias violence, what the mother received was standard police procedure.

“According to that official record, the police have now taken up the case and will be investigating. After assessing all the facts, the police decides whether to handle it as a crime or as a misdemeanor, or whether the case will be shelved because of the age of those involved,” explained Kalibová, who recommends that parents in such cases should undertake the first phase of reporting to the police without their children present, as visiting the station could be traumatic for them.

“If police want to interrogate a child, he or she will be summoned. Children who are questioned as witnesses must be questioned by a person trained to perform such questioning in a special interrogation room. Children are entitled to representation by an attorney free of charge. The child’s interrogation can be performed without the parents present, but in such a case the child welfare authority will be on the scene,” Kalibová said.

“Unfortunately, although that was the standard police procedure, the policewoman who met with the mother of the child who was harmed did not do her job well, and that is why Romani people in Přerov came together and asked for the matter to be properly investigated and for the policewoman to proceed properly,” Kandráč told Romea.cz. “I certainly do not agree with collective guilt because at the end of the day, we ourselves know what that’s like, but we are concerned for our security and the police should be aiding us with that. If matters are swept under the carpet, this could escalate, and nobody wants that.”

More than 100 Romani people arrived in the evening just before 21:00 CET at the police station, where they demanded the case be properly investigated and that the report of a crime be received. The mother and daughter then went inside the police building once more.

After about 10 minutes the daughter and her mother returned in front of the building and the mother announced to the Romani people present that the police are investigating the case, requesting camera footage and interrogating eyewitnesses. “I filed a crime report against the parents of those children,” said the mother of the assaulted little girl, and the Romani people assembled then dispersed in absolute calm.

Police had been investigating since that afternoon

According to a statement from the Přerov Police spokesperson, the police had actually already begun investigating the case that afternoon. “On Monday afternoon at 14:48, the report of a possible incident between two small groups of children was received by the Přerov Police. We have been investigating this case since we received the report, ascertaining all of the circumstances and compiling all of the necessary background materials to properly clarify this incident. At this moment it is not yet possible to confirm whether the alleged action was actually committed,” police spokesperson Miluše Zajícová told news server Romea.cz, who then added: “The report of the incident was received that afternoon by somebody who called the 158 number and began to be investigated immediately thereafter.”