An incident that took place in Prague late in the evening of 12 August at the Palmovka metro station is generating comment in the Czech media. An ethnic Czech man involved in the incident claims he saw three Romani women pickpocketing passengers and did his best to prevent them before being attacked by a Romani man. That man has testified that his common-law wife was one of the women victimized by the ethnic Czech’s aggression and said he was doing his best to protect her. Unedited CCTV footage of the incident is available here: http://www.romea.cz/romeatv/index.php?id=detail&source=tn&vid=857721&detail=857721
The footage reveals that what actually took place was not the „brutal“ attack described by the Czech media. The start of the footage shows how the conflict between the three Romani women and the ethnic Czech who thought they were pickpockets began: He pushes the women more than once. The Romani man then runs up and starts fighting the ethnic Czech. They exchange blows before the ethnic Czech falls to the ground, where the Romani man holds him down, doing his best to keep him out of range. The Romani man then lets the ethnic Czech go, who gets up. Their exchange continues verbally. One of the women does her best to pull the Romani man away and to prevent further conflict. The train arrives, the women get on, and the men continue to haggle. In the end the Romani man gets on the train and prevents the ethnic Czech (whom he says was drunk) from following them into the train car. The ethnic Czech makes for the exit, the train car doors close and the train leaves.
„My friend was celebrating her 18th birthday on 12 August. Myself, my common-law wife and her 18-year-old daughter were there. My common-law wife and I got into an argument and I left the birthday party. When I made it to the Palmovka metro station, I realized that she and her daughter had been drinking, and I feared something might happen to them. I waited for them at the station,“ the Romani man involved, who has been charged with assault, told news server Romea.cz. „At the station the three of them walked past me; I was hiding from view because I didn’t want to start arguing with my common-law wife again in public. I was standing at the top of the stairs trying to decide what to do. I couldn’t see the platform but I didn’t want to go down there. There were a lot of people and I was afraid we would start arguing again and it would be embarrassing. Suddenly I heard a scream. I ran down the stairs and saw a man reaching out and grabbing my common-law wife. I ran up to him and threw his arm off of her. We punched each other until he fell. He tried to grab my legs and I held him down until he got calm. I didn’t kick him. We both calmed down and he got up and walked away. He wanted to get into the metro but I stopped him. I didn’t want him with us in the metro because he was aggressive and drunk. My common-law wife, her daughter and our friend have no criminal records. I have been convicted of crimes three times, but I have never done prison time, I always received a suspended sentence for petty thefts, not mugging or pickpocketing,“ the charged Romani man told news server Romea.cz.
The Romani women say the entire conflict was provoked by the ethnic Czech man who started swearing at them. The women categorically deny having ever been pickpockets or robbing passengers. „I have never done such a thing, I don’t even know how,“ one of the Romani women said in an interview for the Prima television channel. „We wanted to sit down on the bench and because he was drunk he started swearing at us,“ she said.
The Czech media have claimed that the ethnic Czech man who brawled with the Romani man was preventing the three Romani pickpockets from their work. Police spokesperson Jana Rösslerová says that if found guilty, the 28-year-old Romani man faces up to three years in prison for committing bodily harm and rioting. The Romani man is not in custody and himself reported the incident to police officers, which has been confirmed by the detective assigned to the case, Tomáš Haderka. „We tracked the man down who has been charged thanks to the footage from the metro station which we released. The media reporting of the incident included the information that the three women had stolen something from someone in the station. They themselves came to us to seek a correction of the record. The 28-year-old assailant was with them,“ the detective told news server iDNES.cz.
Quelle: Romea.cz
Stand: 04.11.2011