Czech
Republic: 47 charged so far over anti-Romani unrest in České Budějovice
České Budějovice, 22.1.2014 15:49, (ROMEA)
Police intervened on 6 July 2013 at the Máj
housing estate in České Budějovice against dozens of people who participated in
an unannounced anti-Romani demonstration. (PHOTO: ČTK)
Police have so far charged 47 people in
connection with last year's unrest at the Máj housing estate in České
Budějovice. Some have already been given suspended sentences.
The unrest at the town's biggest housing
estate occurred from June through August of last year, when several anti-Romani
demonstrations and marches were held there. South Bohemian Police spokesperson
Jiří Matzner told the Czech News Agency today that most of the people
apprehended were charged with assaulting public officials.
Police detained a total of 224 people
during the unrest. Detectives say a total of 11 protest actions took place last
summer there.
Most of those events targeted the Romani
community at Máj. A total of nine police officers were injured during the
demonstrations and protest marches.
Matzner said there are still more people to
charge in relation to the unrest. People have also filed several complaints
against the police over their crowd management tactics.
"Those complaints concerned, for
example, collapsible truncheons that plainclothes officers are said to have
used when intervening. The complaints, however, are not about members of the
South Bohemian Police, most of them are about officers with the reinforcements
who came to help us from other regions," South Bohemian Police director
Radomír Heřman said.
Those attending the assemblies and protest
marches last year said they were bothered by the coexistence situation at the
Máj housing estate. More than 20 000 people live there, including what is
evidently the largest Romani minority community in the town.
The demonstrations and protest marches were
attended by right-wing radicals from all over the country. The situation at the
housing estate became tense at the end of June, when local children got into a
conflict on the playground which was subsequently joined by about 100 adults.
Several demonstrations and protest marches
then followed which deteriorated into street fighting. Police initially
detained several dozen people, charging 10 of them immediately.
Another eight people have since been
charged over the conflict at the playground. The South Bohemian Police handled
a total of 15 020 crimes last year, 1 015 more than in 2012, most of them in
the České Budějovice area.
More than half of all cases in the South
Bohemian Region involved property. Six murders also took place in South Bohemia
last year, all of which were solved by detectives.
ČTK,
ryz, translated by Gwendolyn Albert
Nema komentara:
Objavi komentar