March commemorates young Romany shot dead in Czech town

Tanvald - About 200 people attended today´s funeral of a young Romany man who was shot dead in Tanvald a week ago, and a following march in his commemoration, which ended without any incidents in the afternoon.

After a requiem mass in the local church, accompanied by strong emotions, the crowd followed the coffin on its way to the Tanvald cemetery, from which most participants set off for the place where the 22-year-old man died to observe a minute of silence and lit candles.

Police officers, including an anti-conflict team, monitored the funeral´s course.

They closed the place of the young man´s death during the commemorative event. That is why the site remained closed to a group of people who wanted to protest against the uproar following the Romany´s death.

"He was far from innocent, they [Romanies] must know that we will defend ourselves, we will not allow ourselves to be robbed and attacked easily. We have children and we are starting to fear letting them walk in the streets," a man from the group of critics told CTK.

Tension between the majority population and Romanies, whose number has been rising, has escalated in Tanvald, a town with 7,000 inhabitants, recently. Romanies have moved there from elsewhere in the Czech Republic and also from Slovakia.

"I must say coexistence between the Romany minority and the majority population in Tanvald is not problem free," Mayor Petr Polak (Civic Democrats, ODS) said.

The 22-year-old Romany man and his brother aged 24 were shot at by a 63-year-old local resident on January 1. Details of the incident have been investigated. No one has been accused so far.

The shooter gave his testimony to the police and was released.

The killed man´s father protested against this today. "I ask the government and the president for justice. I´m 50 and I´d never seen anyone shooting at children here before," the father told reporters.

The police are checking all possible variants of the incident, including a murder and urgent self-defence, regional state attorney Lenka Bradacova said earlier this week.

According to Nova TV, at least two eyewitnesses confirmed that the elderly man fired his gun in self-defence after the two young Romanies attacked him with a knife from behind. They knocked him to the ground but continued attacking him. Only then the man fired his gun, Nova TV said.

One of the attackers died, the other was wounded. He has been already released from hospital.

Tanvald Romanies speak about the young man as a victim of "an execution."

Bradacova told the daily Lidove noviny on Wednesday that the incident did not have racial subtext.

She said the police are checking whether a theft or robbery occurred in Tanvald simultaneously.

Author: CTK
www.ctk.cz

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