Romani community in Czech Republic divided over tragedy at the Brno Reservoir
The Romani community in the Czech Republic is currently divided over last Saturday's tragedy at the Brno Reservoir, which happened just before the start of the Ignis Brunensis fireworks festival there. A 37-year-old foreign national, apparently from Ukraine, stabbed two people there, one of whom, a Romani youth, later died in hospital.
Petr Mačál, director of the Brno-based nonprofit IQ Roma servis, informed the Czech News Agency (ČTK) that news of the stabbing has sparked a feeling of grievance and anti-Ukrainian reactions among some Romani people. In his view, the situation would not be so exacerbated if a Ukrainian were not involved.
The man suspected by police of perpetrating the murder was remanded into custody by a Brno court on Tuesday. “The community is terribly angry and sliding into blaming all Ukrainians. Romani people now feel even more threatened and an essential role is played by the suspect being from Ukraine. If he had been a Czech, a Hungarian, a Romanian, anybody else, this would have been less exacerbated,” Mačál opined to ČTK.
Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians fleeing the full-fledged Russian invasion ongoing since 2022 have taken refuge in the Czech Republic, amplifying already longstanding tensions between Romani people and Ukrainians here. “The Roma are [the Ukrainians’] rivals, [the Ukrainians] are their competitors because [the Ukrainians] actually are taking jobs away from [Romani people] to a certain degree,” Mačál noted.
Since the start of the full-fledged invasion to the close of May this year, more than 250,000 temporarily protected Ukrainians have been hired all over the Czech Republic, according to the Labor Office. They have been working most often as assembly line workers or assistants in construction or manufacturing.
IQ Roma servis is doing its best to calm these emotions. The organization is calling on Romani people not to forget that the recent crime is due to the actions of one person and that it is not possible to condemn an entire group in the population because of it.
The principle of collective guilt and the assaults committed on that basis have also been condemned by well-known Romani figures such as the Czech Government Commissioner for Roma Minority Affairs Lucie Fuková, local politician Karel Karika, or activist Jaroslav Miko. “Many Romani people are angry about that approach, though. They want us to be more active. Unfortunately, we don’t know any other way to calm these emotions, which are terribly strong,” Mačál said.
The NGO director believes the next developments in the situation will depend on the investigation of the crime, which should be as transparent as possible. If doubts arise about it, escalation can be expected.
The controversy is also being exacerbated by the disinformation scene, to which Mačál says Romani people are susceptible. He is also criticizing the fact that right-wing extremist groups which have long been working with people’s fears are doing all they can to exploit the situation.
“It’s all the same to [the far right] if they take advantage of the Roma today and a different group a week from now. They latch onto anybody who is afraid at a particular time,” the NGO director said.
The incident has also impacted the Ukrainian minority. The Ukrainian Initiative of South Moravia (Ukrajinská iniciativa jižní Moravy) has condemned last Saturday’s crime on its Facebook page.
“We believe in equality and humanity irrespective of nationality. In Brno, minorities have always lived in harmony and we would like to keep that mutual solidarity going. We consider it important not to perceive this sad event as a crime related to ethnicity or nationality,” the initiative posted, adding that they believe the investigation will be properly undertaken.
“We fear this situation will be taken advantage of to spark a wave of hate against people from Ukraine. Let’s not allow this incident to become a pretext for a conflict between nationalities which the extremists and persons trying to stir up societal unrest will be glad to exploit,” the initiative posted.
