Ethnic Czechs attack Roma housing in Rumburk

Police have reportedly calmed the situation in the streets of Rumburk today, where a mob of roughly 500 people marched through the town all evening doing their best to provoke Romani residents. The mob formed after an authorized demonstration came to an end there. Before police managed to disperse the most active part of the mob, ethnic Czechs had broken down a fence in front of a building occupied by Roma and thrown tree branches and stones at it.

Police officers have arrested one demonstrator and detained others over various misdemeanors; their intervention officially ended just after 20:30 CET. The Czech Press Agency reports that roughly 1 500 people attended the preceding demonstration, ostensibly held against crime, which quickly deteriorated into a racist demonstration against Romani people. In nearby Varnsdorf about 200 people also assembled, but that demonstration took place in relative calm.

The rally in Rumburk started at 17:00 CET and was attended by a total of about 1 500 people. “There might have been that many people, but for the time being we can only confirm that hundreds of people were there,” police spokesperson Vojtěch Haňka told the Czech Press Agency. The rally lasted only 17 minutes, during which politicians from the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD), which had organized it, tried to speak but were whistled down by the crowd. Then a representative of the “Civic Resistance” (Občanský odpor) association took the podium. The muscular, shaven-headed man, who gave his name as “Josef Mašín”, called on the full square to teach the “inadaptables” a lesson, receiving significant applause for his emotional speech.

An open call to commit violence against the Roma was then heard from the podium when a resident of Varnsdorf grabbed the microphone and started screaming for people to take up pickaxes and pitchforks and take to the street to address the situation themselves. The microphone was taken away from him.

After his speech, Mašín repeatedly emphasized to the press that he is not an extremist even as he accepted congratulations from youths with shaved heads wearing t-shirts of a brand very popular among neo-Nazis. “After today’s demonstration, I believe the town hall will finally take us into consideration and start negotiating with us,” he told the Czech Press Agency. Most people in the crowd were dressed ordinarily.

The Czech Social Democrats announced the end of the rally after 17 minutes. After a few minutes of confused waiting, a mob unexpectedly set off on an unannounced march through the town, heading first for the so-called “Rumburk Triangle”, a group of apartment buildings occupied by Romani people. Police completely underestimated the situation at first and did not even accompany the mob, only calling for reinforcements during a later phase of the march. By then the mob was on to its second target, a single-story, single-family home by the park, also occupied by Roma. Protesters surrounded the house, whistling, and one skinhead even threw a slipper through the window, but no one came out of the house. The march was about 1 000 people strong by then and very visibly included one of the youths who was allegedly attacked by Romani people last Sunday. Given the tense situation in the district, that incident was explosive.

Police officers did not take action until the mob, which was slowly losing strength, stopped at a third building. Ethnic Czechs managed to break down the fence around it and throw stones and tree branches through the window. Police diverted them elsewhere, but the mob returned to the house at roughly 19:15 CET. Riot police then started to push them back and disperse them, arresting at least four men, including Michal Němeček, the only one of the six men allegedly assaulted by Romani people last Sunday who has spoken to the media.

As usual, police explained their lack of action by claiming it was tactical. “We were following the march the whole time from the helicopter, but we preferred not to intervene because there were too many children there still,” explained police spokesperson Jan Melša, who said police arrested one person for assaulting a public official and detained several others for various misdemeanors.

The rally in Varnsdorf was also emotional. The crowd there moved to the front of the town hall and demanded, in vain, that the mayor speak to them. About 20 riot police barricaded the entrance to the building. When the convener of the meeting, Lukáš Kohout, arrived on the scene together with Romani activist Ivan Veselý, the crowd made it loudly known that they were dissatisfied. There was no violence.

Tensions between long-term residents and Romani people in the “Lužický hory” area have been increasing for two years. Locals claim that real estate agencies are buying out apartments, primarily in Central Bohemia, and moving their “inadaptable” tenants to the north. They then repair the properties purchased and sell them at a profit. Many business people are also making a living out of this migration of the socially deprived, opening residential hotels and cashing in on their state benefits for social housing.

The situation came to a head at the start of this month. First a group of five Romani people attacked the staff of a gaming room in Nový Bor (Česká Lípa district) with machetes. The barmaid said they shouted at the “white heads” while committing the attack; three of the victims suffered serious injuries. Police are still looking for two of the alleged assailants. In Rumburk, 14 days later, a group of as many as 20 Romani people are alleged to have attacked a much smaller group of locals. Three suspects have been charged with racially motivated battery. Another four Romani people are charged with battery, three of whom are juveniles.