Arson Attack

Arson victims still homeless

Posted Fri, 06/26/2009 - 6:35pm

Kudrik, his mother Božena Bandurová, daughter PavlínaKudrik, his mother Božena Bandurová, daughter Pavlína

Anna Siváková burst into tears when she saw the cramped, two-room shelter that the town of Vítkov assigned to her family.

The Roma family had just lost its home in an apparently racially motivated arson attack April 19. Siváková and her husband, Pavel Kudrik, suffered severe burns that kept them hospitalized in nearby Ostrava for nearly two weeks, while their youngest daughter, 2-year-old Natálka, remained in intensive care, struggling to survive.

To Siváková, it felt like yet another blow to return to Vítkov after her May 2 hospital release, only to join her husband, three older children, and parents in the crowded, shabby shelter, located behind a veterinary clinic and next to a dog kennel. With its metal-frame bunk beds and no space to move around - let alone allow the children to play or spread out their homework - the place felt, as one family member said, "like a prison."

Arson attack on another Czech Romany family

Posted Thu, 05/28/2009 - 9:20am

Arson AttackArson Attack

Some arsonist threw two bottles with inflammable content on the house of a Czech Romany family on last Sunday night, but there were no injuries, public broadcaster Czech Television (CT) said today.

The fire was extinguished in time. The damage was estimated at 10,000 crowns, local police spokesman Zdenek Chalupa said.

The case is being investigated by the police. If caught, the perpetrator will face public menace charges.

"It has been neither confirmed nor denied that the attack was racially motivated," Chalupa said.

The perpetrator threw the bottle with an unknown combustible on a house wall. It caused a fire that destroyed some pairs of shoes in the house.

Another Romany family in Vitkov, North Moravia, was recently the target of an arson attack in which several people were injured.

Continued at: CeskeNoviny.cz

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