Czech Republic: Homegrown Romani funeral procession mistaken for refugees

In recent months a tragicomic scenario has played itself out more than once in which ordinary inhabitants of the Czech Republic have been mistaken for refugees. Last Sunday this scenario repeated itself in Znojmo, when a funeral procession by local Romani people accompanying a deceased relative to her final resting place was mistaken by a bystander for a group of refugees.

The daily Znojemský deník reports that the onlooker called its editorial offices. "There are about 50 of them. The women are wearing scarves on their heads and carrying small children. They are even accompanied by police," the upset man reported.

After other recent mis-identifications in the country of chimney sweeps and professional footballers as "dangerous migrants", this case demonstrates yet again the degree of hysteria about asylum-seekers currently present among part of Czech society. Coincidentally, this was not the only incident of its kind to happen in the Znojmo area.  

At that same time police received a separate alarming telephone call about "refugees" who later turned out to be a group of Bulgarian day laborers whom some private farmers regularly hire. Someone caught sight of them during their usual Sunday shopping trip.  

According to the Chief of Police in Znojmo, Ivan Budín, his station receives several such phone calls every week. What are the actual facts about refugees currently coming to the Czech Republic?  

"For several weeks now we have seen no more than five illegal migrants from Syria entering our territory daily," Kateřina Rýdlová, a spokesperson for the Aliens’ Police, told the Znojemský deník. According to her, in addition to those incorrectly assumed to be "refugees", this entire affair is affecting roughly half a million foreigners (some of whom are from Muslim countries) now legally permanently living in the Czech Republic who in recent months have been frequently under surveillance by the Czech Police because of the sense of civil emergency some people are experiencing.