Czech Republic: Police downplaying arson against building with Romani residents in České Budějovice last weekend

On Sunday, 14 July, a drunken man did his best to set an apartment building in České Budějovice on fire where several Romani families live. Fortunately he did not succeed. 

Police are preparing to press charges against the suspect. The online news server of the weekly "5 plus 2" reports that witnesses saw the man empty a canister of gasoline around the building and use a cigarette lighter to try and set the fuel ablaze.

"We saw him from the window. Our guys caught him and called the police," said a mother of four who lives in the building.

The incident took place at around 9 PM Sunday. Firefighters responded and cleaned up spots from the fuel on the sidewalk.

The man poured the fuel all around the two-story building on Novohradská Street and it seeped through ground-level windows into the basement. If he had managed to set it alight, he would have caused a tragedy, as dozens of children live there.

"The detective is preparing charges. The man is a recidivist, he was drunk, and he was not attacking Romani people only," police spokesperson Jiří Matzner told "5 plus 2".

České Budějovice thus has yet another recent scandal involving racism on its ledger. The Romani community says the perpetrator was a skinhead who threatened to return and take revenge while he was being arrested. The attack occurred one day after anti-Romani demonstrations were held in České Budějovice for the third weekend in a row.