Czech Govt Human Rights Commissioner: Individuals, not all Roma, committed the Břeclav attack

News server iDNES.cz reported yesterday that Czech Government Human Rights Commissioner Monika Šimůnková has sharply condemned a recent assault on a 15-year-old boy in Břeclav. She also said that blame for the crime must not be ascribed to all Romani people in the Czech Republic.

“I would first like to very sharply, unequivocally condemn the unusually harsh attack itself. There is no doubt that this was a serious criminal act and those who perpetrated it must be apprehended and punished as soon as possible. Right now, that is primarily a police matter. At the same time, I express my maximum support for the victim, Petr, and his entire family,” Šimůnková said in the interview.

News server Romea.cz reported that many Romani people have also condemned the brutal assault and are demanding harsh punishment for the perpetrators. “This crime must be condemned irrespective of whether the person who committed it was Romani. It is simply horrible. The perpetrators must be apprehended and harshly punished. I really feel sorry for the young man. I hope his state of health stabilizes and will not deteriorate,” Jan Balog, a member of the Czech Government Inter-ministerial Commission for Romani Community Affairs, told news server Romea.cz.

Šimůnková and the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion in Romani Localities will be exerting maximum effort toward making sure people in Břeclav don’t feel threatened. The government officials want local residents to know that the town will be adopting measures in collaboration with the Agency to make sure similar attacks will not be repeated there.

“The director of the Agency has long been in regular contact with the mayor of Břeclav. That is one reason why I telephoned with the mayor today. We agreed that on Wednesday we will both personally attend the Břeclav town council meeting which will focus on the current situation in the town. At the same time, I believe it is necessary to tone down the voices of those who would like to attribute this assault to all of the Romani people in Břeclav or in the country as a whole. Such suggestions must be rejected and we must prevent a repetition of what happened last summer in Šluknov district,” Šimůnková told iDNES.cz.

Evidence of a growing sense of grievance against all Romani people is the fact that a march has already been announced for this Sunday in Břeclav. Organizers have called demonstration the “March for Little Petr and Our Security” (“Pochod za Peťu a naši bezpečnost”). The declared reason for the march is to demand increased security and support the injured boy, but it could turn into an anti-Romani protest.

According to Šimůnková, the current situation will primarily be calmed by effective police work and the fastest-possible apprehension of the perpetrators. She said the Agency is working on a longer-term horizon. Šimůnková also warned against Sunday’s demonstration being exploited by right-wing extremists to call for and disseminate manifestations of hatred.

“It won’t surprise me if neo-Nazis or other other radicals will soon be trying to gain visibility there. We must attempt to prevent that and, together with the public, seek measures to ensure not just security, but also good coexistence in the town,” Šimůnková said.

At the end of her interview, Šimůnková once again emphasized that this crime, committed by some individuals, must not be used to condemn the Romani community as a whole. “If the sense is that this was just the individual excess of some individual people, and not that this event was something natural to all Romani people in our environment, then there won’t be a significant deterioration of relations between Romani people and the public. However, for the time being, the articles in the media and the readers’ online commentaries about them are raising my concerns that the opposite will be true, and that could contribute to further deterioration of the already exacerbated coexistence between members of the majority society and the Romani minority in our republic. I firmly hope we will manage to prevent that,” Šimůnková said.

The boy was assaulted by three men whom he described as having dark skin. One of them is said to have asked him for a cigarette. When the boy said he didn’t have one, the men beat him brutally. The assault occurred before 21:00 CET in the center of town. The boy telephoned his mother, who took him to the hospital.

The victim had to undergo surgery immediately. His mother later told the media that the assailants had not been after money, because they did not take anything from her son, but that they allegedly just wanted to take out their aggression on him.

“We are working on the case as one of the suspected commission of grievous bodily harm and rioting. We have already interrogated the boy. He described the incident to us,” said police spokesperson Kamila Haraštová. Detectives are asking witnesses to immediately phone the 158 crisis line if they happened to be on Jan Palach street in the town on Sunday between 20:00 and 21:00 and noticed anything suspicious.

The Statewide Association of Romani People in the Czech Republic (Celostátní asociace Romů České republiky – CARČR) want to help the assaulted boy and his family. The association intends to initiate a statewide collection to support the injured 15-year-old.