Children's conflict in Czech town grows into argument between refugee family from Ukraine and a small group of Romani people, police and medical responders called to the scene
A minor conflict among children in the Czech town of Havířov, specifically in the Šumbark quarter, turned into an argument between a family from Ukraine and several Romani people on Wednesday evening. Police and medical responders had to intervene and treat minor injuries.
Video footage of the conflict has been published to social media by Aljona P., a Ukrainian woman. Police have assessed the case as a misdemeanor, which means the local authority will be dealing with all involved.
The incident happened on Wednesday at 19:30, when Aljona P. alleges that children of Romani origin assaulted her son on the street. “My son came home and said local Roma had attacked him on the street. Children. My husband went there and they assaulted him and our 10-year-old daughter, they pushed her to the ground and threatened to throw a rock at her. I called the police, but they said they couldn’t do anything about it,” alleges the woman, who fled Russia’s aggression in Ukraine with her 44-year-old husband and seven children and has been living in Havířov for two months.
News server iDNES.cz reports that police spokesperson Daniela Vlčková said the case was assessed on the scene as a misdemeanor and handed over to the local police. That has been confirmed by the director of the local police, Bohuslav Muras.
“This was first a children’s scuffle in which adults later became involved. The case will be dealt with by the local authority through a misdemeanor proceeding,” Muras said.
Local officials should ascertain who started the incident through that process. The Romani people involved have alleged the man from Ukraine is to blame for escalating the entire conflict by brandishing a stick, after which the children began to run away.
The video posted online by Aljona P. supports that allegation. An argument can be heard and seen in the footage of a local Romani woman yelling at the Ukrainian woman to go back to where she came from.
The Ukrainian man begins to laugh and walks away from the scene of the conflict, then suddenly picks up a stick. At that moment the Romani children run away and the Ukrainian woman can be heard yelling.
“Sasha, Sasha!” the woman says in an attempt to stop her husband, and the video ends with her saying she has called the police. No assaults can be seen in the footage.
Medical responders intervened at the scene and treated the minor injuries suffered by the 44-year-old man and his 10-year-old daughter. As Muras told the media, local police have not had to address any similar conflicts so far in association with refugees from Ukraine.
