Teplice, Czech Republic: Non-Romani man assaults Romani women in front of their crying children. He wouldn't have noticed the children if they were white, one victim says
On the afternoon of 31 March in Teplice, Czech Republic, a Romani woman named Natalie was assaulted in the presence of her child by a non-Romani man who was unknown to her. Natalie says she, her sister and their children were aggressively targeted by the man, who started shouting at them in a local park.
Natalie described going to the park with her young daughter and several other young children from her family. Her sister accompanied them.
“The children were playing with pebbles, they weren’t doing anything to anybody, and he started shouting at my daughter, so I asked him what was bothering him,” Natalie described how the incident started to news server Romea.cz. The man started shouting very vulgar abuse and the women objected.
“We told him not to speak so crudely in front of the children and he walked right up to me and got in my face. I pushed him away more than once, but he assaulted me physically. He slapped me and then, when my sister came to my aid, he slapped her and it became a fight. The children were crying and in total shock,” Natalie described the situation.
“We shouted to the other people in the park to call the police. Eventually my sister called the police and the man started to run away. My sister ran after him for a moment, but her little boy began to cry terribly, so she came back,” Natalie described to Romea.cz.
Police arrived at the scene within 10 minutes. “They downloaded videos from people who had filmed it and I gave my statement to the police today,” Natalie said on 1 April.
“If the children had been white he wouldn’t have even noticed them, but he started shouting directly at my daughter,” Natalie told news server Romea.cz. Police spokesperson Kamil Marek confirmed to news server Romea.cz that police are investigating the incident.
“Police officers in Teplice are investigating an incident on suspicion of misdemeanor behavior. The operations officer immediately sent a police patrol to the scene. The officers immediately started searching for a male suspect meeting the women’s description, but he disappeared. They have requested camera footage and are continuing to identify the suspect,” Marek told Romea.cz.
A brief video clip capturing the incident was posted to social media. The footage shows a little girl weeping and a man assaulting her mother.
The video was available on Facebook during the evening of 31 March; while the original post was subsequently deleted, the video continues to be shared in various groups. News server Romea.cz has obtained the video.
Czech Government Commissioner for Roma Minority Affairs is in contact with the assaulted woman
On the afternoon of the assault, the Vice-Chair of the Czech Government Council for Roma Minority Affairs, Marián Dancso, got in touch with the assaulted woman and accompanied her to the police station the next day. “The woman who was attacked gave a statement to the police today, who were maximally helpful and offered both the woman and her young daughter psychological aid,” Dancso told news server Romea.cz, adding that he was told the police have issued a statewide arrest warrant for the suspect.
Czech Government Commissioner for Roma Minority Affairs Lucie Fuková is also following the case. “I do not have detailed information about this matter yet. After watching the video that is circulating on social media I am outraged by this repulsive violence, especially in the presence of children,” she told Romea.cz, adding that she is in contact with the assaulted woman through Dancso.
“I will keep monitoring the situation,” Fuková said. The ROMEA organization has sent the assaulted woman contact information for the In IUSTITIA organization, which legally aids bias crime victims.
