(Un)equal citizens

Specially za "Time" iz Prague

Picture one - for more than two weeks, at the airport in Prague, Czechia, travelers to London, in addition to the usual border formalities, also go through an additional control - 15 British immigration officers, on the spot, after the Czech policemen re-check the otherwise valid passports of the Czechs and they throw out the Roma from the line. There is a lot of work - 56 regular planes fly from Prague to London every week, and every day meticulous Englishmen remove from the flight list, on average, a dozen Roma with valid passports (Czechs do not need a visa to enter Great Britain), with duly paid air- tickets, with money to show at the border and with addresses in Britain where they will stay as tourists. There is no mercy - Roma will not travel to London.

Picture two - in the same week when that incredible control was introduced in Prague, in a place in the east of the Czech Republic, a Roma, as soon as he entered a discotheque, was killed with a knife by a local supporter of skinheads, according to his own boastful statement, of pro-fascist orientation. The young Roma was left with a sick wife and two children, and the young killer had already spent two years in prison for attempted murder, also of a Roma, also with a knife. In that process, the prosecutor did not mention the racial motives of the young fascist, who, because of his age, got away cheaply in court. Apart from relatives, locals and friends, there were no politicians at the Roma funeral.

WHY LONDON: Roma in the Czech Republic have been claiming for years that they are exposed to daily abuse and harassment, they say that they are not equal citizens, that the police and the judiciary do not qualify all attacks, even the most serious crimes against Roma, as racist, and warn of a very lenient criminal policy... Newspapers almost every day they register attacks on Roma, which are most often condemned by various non-governmental organizations for the protection of human rights. A rather strong indifference to the plight of the Roma in the Czech Republic, combined with several stereotypes, according to which Roma are lazy, do not like to work, but know how to steal.

All this caused great division and mistrust, and with the absence of stronger reactions from politicians, the impression is created that the Roma are unwelcome. Somehow at the same time, the number of Roma trying to get asylum in one of the EU countries started to grow, and apparently, due to the more favorable laws of Great Britain on obtaining asylum, they are happy to travel to London. A large colony of Czech Roma has already received refuge there, and every year about 2.000 new requests for asylum are submitted, although the number of applicants is much higher, because as a rule, only the head of the family submits the request. The process of (dis)approving asylum in England takes approx. five weeks, so the practical and thrifty British proposed, and the Czechs accepted, that strange, in any case unique in Europe control at the airport in Prague.

To all the questions of the public - whether this control is a sign of limiting the sovereignty of the Czech Republic and whether there is any truth in the claims that the control is motivated by the color of the skin - the English first answered in the negative, and then the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic Jan Kavan joined in, who said that the English , in agreement with Prague, are only protecting their asylum system from possible abuses. And then he added - an increase in the number of people from the Czech Republic seeking asylum in Great Britain would only lead to the introduction of visas for all Czech citizens.

A THE PUBLIC: The press, by the way, extensively reports on the events at the airport, seeks the opinion of passengers who passed two controls, so here are some answers. One passenger noted the polite behavior of the English during the control, another praises their expertise: "I have been to London six times, and it seems to me that this control has even better questions for passengers than those in England", the third thinks that they are polite and non-aggressive. One, like a sheret, was a little afraid of control, saying that he had tanned this summer, swimming in the pool, and his companion added, as if in jest, that the English, like the old colonizers, know what the true color of the skin is. Only a few foreigners at the airport said without apology - the additional control bothers them a lot and the whole thing reeks of racism. Finally, in that small town in the east of the Czech Republic from the beginning of the story, the Roma establish their own unarmed police, something like a civil guard to protect the Roma from all kinds of attacks. The first 25 volunteers are registered, the interest is high...