Protest in front of the Czech embassy. The Roma will not be silent!

Today, the civil movement Opre Roma Serbia organized the first in a series of protests over the death of Stanislav Tomas, a Roma from the Czech Republic who was killed by the police in the Czech city of Teplice on June 19 this year.

Protests will also be organized in other cities in Serbia.

Opre Roma Serbia, together with the gathered people, submitted its requests to the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Belgrade.

The death of Stanislav Tomas by the police in the Czech town of Teplice is the latest example of police brutality suffered by Roma. This is a country that has systematically sterilized Roma women and weakened the education of Roma children. This is a country where the president is openly racist and whose prime minister has just thanked the police for what happened to Stanislav Tomas.

World War II was the culmination of Roma suffering. The hostility and violence suffered by Roma ancestors, unfortunately, continues until today when Stanislav Tomas was brutally killed. In the last few years, Roma has witnessed increasing police brutality. The root of police brutality against Roma is anti-Gypsyism, which is a specific form of racism against Roma, stemming from the distorted perception of the majority about Roma communities across Europe. The result of systemic racism against Roma led to the death of Roma in the town of Teplice, Czech Republic.

Regardless of the way the event took place, members of Roma communities from all over Europe consider this kind of behavior in a law enforcement institution to be deeply reprehensible.

The requests from the Czech Government submitted to the embassy on that occasion are:

• Independent investigation into the death of Stanislav Tomas,

• creation of an independent commission that will set out police rules and actual policing practices in Roma communities.

The changes that the Roma community wants to see are:

• Accountability and justice - police officers should be held accountable for illegal practices that lead to disproportionate measures against members of minority communities,

• Expand the number of Roma engaged in law enforcement structures,

• Stronger checks in the police recruitment process (ie to ensure that they are not linked to far-right, fascist and populist organizations),

• Addressing the culture of racism that exists in police institutions and providing anti-racist training to police officers to remove prejudice,

• Abolish racial profiling of any kind and ensure that every citizen has the right to be treated equally by law enforcement agents,

• Create and give a full mandate to independent institutions to investigate police crimes, such as police committees to guide civil society.

Racism kills!

Roma wants to live!

#ROMAVANTTOLIVE #EROMAKAMENTEDZIVEN #RACISMKILLS #JUSTICEFORSTANISLAVTOMAS #opreromasrbija #ORS