2013 Czech Anti-Roma protests

2013 Czech Anti-Roma protests
Police clash with protesters in České Budějovice
Date	29 May 2013 – December 2013
Location	Czech Republic
Caused by	Roma attack on a married Czech couple Anti-Romani sentiment
Resulted in	Protests suppressed Numerous Roma houses burned by protesters
Parties
Protesters Czech protesters Various Far-Right groups Workers' Party of Social Justice Counter protesters Romani counter protesters Czech Republic Czech police
Number
Thousands Unknown Unknown number of police officers
Casualties and losses
Hundreds wounded Hundreds arrested Unknown wounded Hundreds wounded

In 2013, numerous Anti-Romani protests took place across the Czech Republic. This was after a Czech couple was attacked by 5 Romani on 18 May 2013. The couple was hopitalized after the attack.

Background

Prior to the protests, Amnesty International and the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) had raised concerns about the safety of Romanies in the Czech Republic. The ERRC had documented that between January 2008 and December 2012, at least 48 violent attacks against Romas had been documented. Human rights groups had also accused Czech authorities of placing a disproportionately high number of Roma children into schools for the disabled. According to a 2010 opinion poll, 68% of Czechs have antipathy towards Romani. The survey also found that 82% Czechs oppose any form of a "special care of Roma rights", 83% of Czechs consider Romani asocial, and 45% of Czechs would support the expulsion of Romani people from the Czech Republic.

A 2011 poll, which followed a number of violent attacks by Romani perpetrators against ethnic Czech victims, reported that 44% of Czechs are afraid of Roma people. The poll also reported 90% of Czechs do not want Roma people as neighbours.

Protests

May

On 29 May 2013, after 5 Romas were charged for an assault on a married couple in the town of Duchcov, 800 protesters marched onto the streets. Organizer of the march, Jindřich Svoboda, stated that the event should be "a peaceful event without violence". However, a half an hour after Svoboda's speech, the protesters marched towards the southern part of the city which housed a large Roma population. At 7pm, they were confronted by police. Protesters armed with baseball bats and poles attempted to push through the police line while shouting: "Let us at them!" By 8pm, 2 protesters were arrested and the bats and poles were confiscated. 3 other people were convicted after making Facebook posts saying that they were going to "kill them all" or that "I'm going to sharpen my knives".

June

On 21 June, a dispute between Roma and Czech parents took place at a playground near the Máj housing estate. Up to 100 people joined the growing mob. The dispute caused the protests to become more widespread.

On 22 June, riot police clashed with right-wing protesters after the protesters had staged a demonstration. The demonstration took a violent turn when the protesters had tried to cross the police line separating them from Romanis. By the end of the clashes, 3 protesters, 2 officers and one photographer had been wounded. 22 protesters were also arrested.

Anti-Roma protesters at Přemysl Otakar II Square in České Budějovice

On 29 June, hundreds of Neo-Nazis marched towards the Máj housing estate which housed 350 Romanis. The march was in response to the dispute on the 18th of June. As they marched, they were cheered on by local residents. They, protesters tried to break through the police barrier. After a violent clash that left dozens of people on both sides wounded, the police arrested 40 people.

July

On 1 July, in the city of České Budějovice, hundreds of protesters marched to a neighborhood with a dense Roma population. After encountering police forces, the protesters chanted racist slogans and threw bottles and stones. After hours of clashes with the police who used smoke bombs, tear gas, and riot equipment, the protest was disbursed with 39 people being detained.

On 6 July, 300 protesters clashed with police officers in České Budějovice. Per police spokesman Jiří Matzner, 3 police officers were injured during the clashes. Czech Police detained 60 protesters and confiscated baseball bats and poles. 3 protesters were later charged with assault against an officer.

On 14 July, Czech police arrested a man in České Budějovice who attempted to light a Roma apartment building on Novohradská Street on fire.

On 18 July, Czech police were called after 2 packages resembling bombs were found in a Roma ghetto in Machnín by local resident Milan Gábor.

August

On 3 August, in the city of Vítkov, 300 protesters marched through the city's streets, shouting slogans such as "Bohemia to Bohemia" or "Our streets, our cities". The protesters then attempted to get to the Roma assembly. However, Police officers pushed them out of Husova Street in order to prevent a confrontation with the Roma protesters there.

On 14 August, the Roma Democratic Party was founded in response to the protests. It aimed to better represent the Roma of the Czech Republic in the Czech Parliament.

On 23 August, Czech police announced that they had arrested over 230 protesters over the past three weekends.

On 24 August, seven protests took place simultaneously in the cities of Ostrava, Duchcov, České Budějovice, Jičín, Plzeň, Brno, Děčín and Varnsdorf. In Ostrava, 1,500 protesters attempted to break into houses that were inhabited by Roma. After a clash with police, the crowd was broken up by tear gas. Over 60 people were detained while many protesters and police officers were wounded.

On 25 August, a total of 2,000 protesters participated in multiple simultaneous protests in the cites of Ostrava, Duchcov, České Budějovice, Jičín, Pilsen and Brno and clashed with Roma counter protesters. In Ostrava, after clashes with police officers, over 60 people were arrested while another 25 people were arrested in Pilsen.

September

On 5 September, the Roma Democratic Party, announced that it would be running in the 2013 Czech parliamentary election.

On 26 September, an Anti-Roma rally took place in České Budějovice along Lannová třída and Na Sadech street.

On 27 September, a crowd of 1,000 protesters attempted to break into a dormitory in Ostrava where many Roma lived. Police officers clashed with protesters who threw rocks, bottles, and shot fireworks at police officers, causing casualties. After an hour, the police detained 21 people and charged one with assault. Police spokeswoman Gabriela Holčáková said that the police only intervened after the crowd did not respond to police calls to disburse.

On St. Wenceslas Day 28 September, three simultaneous protests took place in the cities of Krupka, Prague and Vítkov. In Krupka, around 350 Romani counter-protesters clashed with Neo-Nazis who were distributing flyers for the Workers' Party of Social Justice.

October

On 6 October, hundreds of Roma staged a protest in Prague, carrying banners that read "We are Roma" and "Stop pogroms against the Roma".

November

On 12 November, Czech police charged a 16-year-old girl with assault after she had thrown bricks and stones at police officers during an Anti-Roma protest in Ostrava.

On 28 November, Czech police reported that the protests near the Máj housing estate had "calmed down" for the first time in 5 months.

Aftermath

The Mayor of Duchcov, Jitka Bártová said in an interview that the events on May 29 "cannot be overlooked" and that the events could "trigger a war of blacks against whites". The Mayor of České Budějovice, Juraj Thoma said that the protests "could not be prevented". Zdenek Ryšavy of Romea.cz dubbed the protests as "The largest hunt for Roma in the modern history of the Czech Republic". On 24 August 2013, IUSTITIA set up a hotline for Roma who had been attacked during the protests. David Tiser, a member of the Czech government's council on the Roma minority told Deutsche Welle in an interview: "These are not just marches by extremists. Regular citizens are joining in as well. And this is what is dangerous. This is why the foreign media are interested. This is why you are talking to me today." On 4 August 2013, German newspaper Die Welt wrote that the Anti-Roma protests had become a sort of "Czech national sport" due to the fact that both political radicals and ordinary citizens had been participating in them. Czech senator Pavel Lebeda, said that the protests were a "sad that expressions of citizens' dissatisfaction with the violent and property crime of gypsies, their laziness, abuse of the social system and inability to live together are immediately classified as extremism". On 2 August 2013, the Minister of the Interior Martin Pecina, announced that the Czech Police would increase their number of officers from 1,000 to 40,000 by 2014 in response to the protests. On 10 September 2013, the Czech Helsinki Committee wrote a report which said that the position of the Roma in the Czech Republic is "rapidly deteriorating" and that negative anti-Roma sentiments are growing and that Roma citizens are being labeled as the culprits of various problems in Czech society which is resulting in more and more people turning their anger against the Roma population. The report also noted that anti-Roma demonstrations and marches participates include not only members of the Czech far-right, but also more and more people from the general population of the Czech Republic. Per the Security Information Service, anti-Roma sentiments among ordinary citizens of the Czech Republic could potentially represent a greater danger than extremist groups. According to Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muižnieks, 22 Roma had been physically attacked in 2013.