Pardubice, Czech Republic: Bystander video from street brawl shows the conflict underway and apparently the knife injury to a Romani youth
Bystander video of Saturday's conflict in Pardubice, Czech Republic has been posted to Twitter. The footage was filmed from a car as it drove past the scene and shows several people fighting.
At the close of the footage a man wearing a red t-shirt and green shorts can apparently be seen wielding a knife, for which he was later arrested by police. The video of the street brawl is 14 seconds long and was posted to Twitter by a user named Martin Mareš who identifies it as from Pardubice.
It is not clear who produced the clip from the footage and added the background music to it for the Twitter post. Six Romani men and two of those identified as Ukrainians can be seen in the video.
Not all six of the Romani men are involved in the fighting – one is even on crutches and hopping on one foot. One of the Ukrainians wearing a black t-shirt and gray shorts tries to strike the Romani youths from a boxing stance.
That particular Ukrainian succeeds more than once and the others back off. Another Ukrainian, in a red t-shirt and green shorts, is fighting with Patrik Sivák.
At one moment in the footage it can be seen how the Ukrainian’s right hand, in which Patrik has testified a knife was being held, aims for Patrik’s throat. At that moment the other Romani participants in the brawl step back.
The man in the red t-shirt and green shorts then slashes at Patrik’s face with the knife. That apparently caused the injuries which he described and showed to ROMEA TV on Sunday.
It is not clear from the footage what happened after that point in the brawl. In other words, this clip does not clarify whether the two Ukrainians were being attacked by six or as many as 15 Romani men at the same time.
Local police in Pardubice arrested three foreign nationals who were under the influence of alcohol after the conflict on Saturday. They are treating the case as one of disorderly conduct and working with several versions of how it unfolded.
The foreign nationals face up to two years in prison for disorderly conduct. “After the incident, three persons were arrested, booked and released. Three foreign nationals were involved. They were given breath tests for alcohol that were all positive. I can guarantee you the investigation will be objective and transparent,” said the director of the Pardubice Regional Police, Jan Ptáček, who did not comment on the nationality of those involved in the brawl, which he said was an isolated situation for which there is no need to adopt extraordinary measures.
