Přerov, Czech Republic: July incident between Romani and Ukrainian children was verbal and involved no weapons, police have transferred it to the misdemeanor commission
The July incident between Romani and Ukrainian children in Přerov, Czech Republic, has been closed by police as a misdemeanor against civil coexistence. Police say it has not been confirmed that the children mutually threatened each other with any kind of weapon, the Czech News Agency (ČTK) reported Přerov police spokesperson Miluše Zajícová as saying today.
Officers transferred the case to the bureaucrats at City Hall to be dealt with as a misdemeanor. The incident sparked tensions in the city at the time and several dozen local Romani residents assembled outside a police station to ask that the case be investigated.
The police also had to address the dissemination of disinformation by a local resident on social media. The conflict between two small groups of children on a local square in Přerov transpired on 10 July.
The investigation of the incident has now been closed by police as a misdemeanor against civil coexistence. “An investigation and operations were performed in this matter, on the basis of which we have categorized this case as a misdemeanor against civil coexistence. It was ascertained that two small groups of minors mutually attacked each other verbally. It was not confirmed that any of the children threatened anybody with a knife or any other kind of weapon. All circumstances of the case were logged and the material was sent yesterday to the relevant administrative unit at Přerov City Hall, which will deal with it according to its competences,” Zajícová posted to the police website today.
On 10 July, several dozen Romani people spontaneously assembled that evening outside a local police station. Apparently, when a mother of some of the Romani children involved went to the station to report the conflict, the officer on duty did not communicate with her clearly.
The mother wanted to file a report of a crime and alleges that the officer on duty belittled the entire situation. News server Romea.cz has been informed that the mother was given a copy of a protocol by the officer on duty entitled “Official record of explanation given.”
According to the local Roma who later assembled outside the station, the mother wanted to file a report of a crime and what she was given by the officer on duty was not enough. Several dozen gathered there to support the woman reporting a crime because she alleged that her daughter had been threatened by two children with a knife.
Mayor of Přerov Petr Vrána (ANO) addressed what was going on at the time and told ČTK there were no indications that tensions would escalate further. Police had to also address the dissemination of disinformation on social media in connection with the case; two days after the incident they charged a 36-year-old woman from the Přerov area with spreading a false alarm when she used social media to warn others that Romani people were allegedly being attacked by Ukrainians.
