http://www.romea.cz/english/index.php?id=detail&detail=2007_2755#.TlvDE6CwK5E.email
PHOTO: Czech fascists harass and attack Roma people
Ethnic Czechs in Rumburk planning more anti-Romani actions, Roma are arming themselves because police are inactive
Rumburk, 27.8.2011 11:39, (ROMEA)
Tensions between ethnic Czechs and Romani people in Rumburk have increased after yesterday's assembly and the subsequent unannounced march through the town. Police stood by and watched as a group of ethnic Czechs marched through the town chanting anti-Romani slogans and looking for Romani people to attack.
The mob eventually attacked a building where Romani people live. Only then did police push the aggressors back.
The nearby town of Varnsdorf experienced a much calmer assembly, but according to information directly from the scene, ethnic Czechs want to take to the streets today as well. Local Roma are responding to the police inaction by starting to arm themselves.
Two incidents this month served to spark the current crisis in North Bohemia. The first, which took place 7 August, involved Romani customers of a gaming room in Nový Bor attacking the other customers and staff with machetes. Two weeks later, a group of 18 Romani people beat up six ethnic Czechs. As payback, four ethnic Czechs then brutally beat up an innocent Romani man with baseball bats in front of his pregnant girlfriend. Prior to all of these incidents, in July and early August, ethnic Czechs committed two arson attacks against Romani people living in Býchory and Krty.
Czech Television reports that protests can be expected on Saturday and in the days to come. According to local people, radical demonstrators in Rumburk are organizing and allegedly preparing revenge for the violence. They may be supported by extremists from other parts of the republic.
Czech Television reports that right-wing radicals were sending SMS messages to one another arguing over how to organize even more extreme unrest. They allegedly want to revenge the attacks committed by Romani perpetrators against local non-Romani residents. For the time being, a proper "kickoff" is being prevented by the large media attention given to the region during the past few days. "Cars are driving past and yelling to me that journalists should leave so 'it can properly start'," an editor reported directly from the scene on Friday.
ROMEA, CZECH TELEVISION, MEDIAFAX
TRANSLATED BY GWENDOLYN ALBERT
ROMEA
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Czech Republic: Romani residents protest in Rumburk against yesterday's pogromRumburk, 27.8.2011 18:05, (ROMEA)
http://www.romea.cz/english/index.php?id=detail&detail=2007_2756
Approximately 30 Romani people in Rumburk have met on the square to protest against yesterday's unprecedented behavior by a mob of ethnic Czechs who marched through the town and did their best to attack local Roma without police intervening. The mob attacked a Roma-occupied home and destroyed a fence surrounding it.
"We are protesting against what happened here yesterday," a demonstrator on the square told Czech Television. The man also said many families had fled Rumburk prior to the mob's spree yesterday.
TRANSLATED BY GWENDOLYN ALBERT
ROMEA
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