Czech Police investigate brawl between gaming room bouncers and Romani customers in Ostrava

A large group of Romani customers attacked security guards on Wednesday at a gaming room in Ostrava-Bělský Les. The scuffle between the bodyguards and the customers happened after members of the security team removed two Romani customers from the premises.  

One returned to the gaming room with reinforcements, a bodyguard told the Czech News Agency. Four people involved in the conflict ended up in the Municipal Hospital in Ostrava-Fifejdy with light to moderately severe injuries, according to Magda Odtáhalová, the hospital spokesperson.  

Police are now investigating the scuffle between the customers and the security guards. They report that a total of eight people were injured.

A spokesperson for the Moravian-Silesian Regional Police told the Czech News Agency that the conflict occurred between 17:00 and 18:00. "The precise number of persons involved has not yet been determined. Currently we are informed that eight people were injured," the police spokesperson said.

Police are asking for anyone who witnessed the incident to contact them by dialing 158. News server Romea.cz contacted Romani community members in Ostrava but none wanted to comment on the conflict yet.  

According to a security guard (who was, however, not in the gaming room in the time) the two customers who were ejected were drunk and causing problems. They left after being asked to do so.

Subsequently one of them returned with a large group of supporters. "They drove up in cars. The numbers vary. Some claim there were 40 of them, others say there were 50, some there were as many as 70 assailants," the security guard said, adding that about five guards were on duty at the time.

Lukáš Humpl, spokesperson for emergency services in Moravia-Silesia, told the Czech News Agency that two ambulances responded to the scene in front of the gaming room in the Bělský Les quarter. Their crews treated three people with head injuries.  

"We treated men aged 24, 25 and 43. They had suffered lacerations to their heads. The injuries were light to moderately severe," Humpl said.

The patients were then transported to the local hospital. Another man with a stab wound to the back was later treated in the same hospital.

"It was three centimeters deep. Doctors stitched it up. All four patients were released into police custody after being treated," a hospital spokesperson said; news server Romea.cz will continue to investigate details of this incident.