The Roma in Central and Eastern Europe live under constant persecution by the Anglo majority population, and it’s only occasionally that something like this makes anyone notice for a few moments. The Holocaust killed 90% of Roma during the Holocaust in the place where this incident takes place, the Czech Republic (then a Nazi protectorate). Now they get shoved into special schools for the mentally retarded, widespread discrimination, open hatred.

TV Nova, the Czech Republic’s most-watched private television channel, has managed to acquire video footage of a controversial intervention by municipal police in the town of Rokycany during which a pram with an infant in it was overturned on the street. The 16-month-old boy escaped serious injury through sheer luck.

The video footage was recorded by a camera mounted on the policeman’s chest. The footage broadcast on television shows several edits. The police were asking the woman to show them her identification because her dog was not on a leash. According to current law, it is not necessary for individuals to carry identification with them at all times.

The controversial intervention, which was unnecessarily brutal at certain points, has prompted a broad range of responses. A witness to the incident also recorded video footage of it on his mobile phone which has spread through the internet like an avalanche. The video footage recorded by the witness is available here: http://www.romea.cz/cz/zpravodajstvi/domaci/brutalni-zasah-strazniku-proti-matce-s-sestnactimesicnim-ditetem-v-rokycanech-prevratili-kocarek-a-chlapecek-vypadl-ven

Most of those discussing the incident online have not spared the municipal officers harsh criticism. However, once it became clear that the woman involved is Romani, opinions began to spread that she had deserved the intervention and that it should have been even harsher.

Openly racist opinions have been posted, for example, to the diskuteri.eu news server. User “Lukino” wrote the following: “I won’t watch that, but I know one thing for sure - they should have given it to the whore even more!” Another user with the nickname “Tankard” writes: “The kid should be in an institution, the darkie should be in Pakistan and the dog should be given to the gooks.” The ROMEA civic association is considering legal action against the operators of the news server and the discussants.
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The incident began with the police asking the woman for identification because her small dog was not on a leash. She did not have identification on her, and because she lives near the place where she was stopped, she wanted the officers to accompany her home so she could retrieve it.

On the police video recording provided to TV Nova in edited form, it can be seen that the conflict escalated right at the start, at the moment the officer prevented the woman from going to her 16-month-old son. During the subsequent intervention against the woman, the pram and the officers are knocked over.

Read it all at romea.cz