Hatred and hostility: more and more Czech residents speak out against Ukrainian refugees

Residents of the Czech city of Pilsen are calling for decisive action against Ukrainian refugees.

This report is from the publication iDNES.

The influx of foreigners has led to a rise in crime, and with each new incident, hatred and animosity towards refugees intensify. People are fearful and feel that the government is not taking adequate action.

“First, there are a series of minor incidents, and then something happens that triggers a strong response. People decide to take revenge,” warns sociologist Jan Lukashek.

A knocked-out tooth, bruises all over the body, a split lip – this was the result of a fight between a young man and four Ukrainians who attacked him, his friend, and their two girlfriends. A young Ukrainian brutally raped a 15-year-old girl, whom he intended to kill. He inserted a firecracker into her vagina and lit it. Another drunk Ukrainian insulted people so aggressively that the police had grounds to charge him with incitement to racial and ethnic hatred. Another intoxicated Ukrainian attempted to sexually assault a young girl in a park.

What unites these three cases is that they all occurred in the Pilsen region, and after each incident, local residents’ hatred towards Ukrainians has grown, with some now calling for decisive measures against the refugees, including deportation, violence, or even riots. Sociologists say that the events in Pilsen and the surrounding area can be seen as a signal of what’s happening in society, and it’s something that has been hidden from view. However, at some point, there might be an explosion, as this region is home to twice as many foreigners as the average in the Czech Republic, primarily Ukrainians, and consequently, hostility towards foreigners, especially Ukrainians, is growing faster there.

Shortly before the armed conflict in Ukraine, there were about 44,000 foreigners living in Pilsen and its surroundings, constituting roughly 7.5% of the population. Today, their numbers have doubled to exactly 14%, and in some areas of the region, such as Tachov, the proportion of foreigners has risen to 20%. However, in some Czech regions, even with the influx of Ukrainian refugees, the total number of foreigners still doesn’t reach the level of foreign residents present in the Pilsen region before the conflict.

“Girls, including myself, are already afraid to walk alone on the streets. This isn’t the first time Ukrainians have harassed us. In Rociczany, some people even considered taking a few of them down ‘man to man.’ Fortunately, they eventually abandoned that idea, but it’s only a matter of time until the next incident,” says a 17-year-old girl from Rociczany.

She and her friend were being pursued by two Ukrainians. The girls ran until they met two young men at the train station who protected them and beat the Ukrainians.

“I don’t understand why everyone is so surprised. Instead of behaving decently, they fight, attack, and beat people. In Rociczany, we also considered having a few people deal with them ‘like men.’ Luckily, they finally gave up on that idea, but only until the next incident,” says one of the guys who was attacked.

In January 2017, two Ukrainians attacked a 21-year-old girl at a bus stop in the center of Pilsen, beating her and robbing her. The police apprehended them just in the nick of time as they were about to leave for Ukraine.

In September of the previous year, on Republic Square, two heavily intoxicated Ukrainians attacked a visually impaired boy in a grocery store, robbing him as well. Eight Ukrainians beat an employee of Pilsen’s municipal service (striking him on the head) as he was collecting trash in one of the city’s parks last July.

“First, there are a series of minor incidents, and then something happens that triggers a strong response. People decide to take revenge. We’ve been warning against this since the refugees began arriving in the Czech Republic. Pilsen could be the place where anti-Ukrainian sentiments could escalate due to inadequate security measures,” claims sociologist Jan Lukashek.

According to the statistics from the Police Headquarters, last year in the Czech Republic, there were 242 hate crimes, with 78 of them directed against Ukrainians and 50 against Russians. At the end of September of this year, there were 80 such incidents. What’s particularly concerning is that 60 of them were anti-Ukrainian in nature, while only 20 were anti-Russian.

Czechs’ animosity towards Ukrainians is also connected to government efforts to assist Ukrainian refugees. The government’s actions are supported by over 40% of citizens, while more than 50% disapprove. Just under 40% of Czech citizens believe that the Czech government is providing sufficient help to Ukraine, and only a small portion of those surveyed stated that the Czech Republic is providing too little assistance. More than half of respondents believe that the help from the Czech Republic to Ukraine is too extensive. These are the findings from public opinion surveys conducted by the Research Center.