Hundreds of Roma camped at the railway station in Prague. Volunteers are dealing with a humanitarian crisis
Hundreds of Roman refugees settled at the main train station in Prague. They can’t find other temporary accommodation for them. Most of them are refugees from western Ukraine, from an area near the Hungarian border. Therefore, some also have a Hungarian passport. Therefore, they cannot obtain temporary protection in the Czech Republic like other Ukrainians. Volunteers are overwhelmed and point out that the capacity of the local center is no longer sufficient. Over 400 people spent the night here, some of them on the floor.
According to the Hlavák Initiative, which, together with volunteers from the Refugee Aid Organization, railway firefighters and the police, is involved in helping people fleeing the war, the situation at Prague’s main railway station is unsustainable. Most of the refugees who stay here for several days in a row are large Romanesque families, not even pregnant or breastfeeding women.
Volunteers complain that they are no longer just providing information and basic assistance, but are literally dealing with a humanitarian crisis that no one is reporting to. “Our role, centered around the information stands set up by the City Hall. m of Prague, was from the beginning conceived primarily as a transfer of basic information and assistance with navigation, supplemented by the possibility of emergency sleeping, basic food aid, or help from medics. At the moment, however, we are not providing information on our shifts, but addressing the humanitarian crisis. Hundreds of people in need and undignified living conditions, who have nowhere to go, are returning to the station, “said Mladá Hošková on behalf of the Hlavák Initiative.
The situation culminated to the point that volunteers not only have temporary accommodation capacity for refugees, but also not enough food. “Allocations are made on the assumption that individual refugees will arrive, strengthen and continue to the assistance center, where they will be cared for. Unfortunately, this is not happening. At present, people (usually a Roma family) from the assistance center return to us without accommodation or other support and have nowhere else to go but behind us, ”Hošková describes the current situation at the station.
On Saturday, 400 people slept at the station
“Our services at the station have never been designed for long-term accommodation and are by no means a decent substitute for accommodation,” he adds. Up to 210 people can currently sleep in the attached seat train on the first platform.
About 25 seats are also in the hall provided by the Railway Administration. “These are places for the most vulnerable, usually pregnant and mothers with infants,” Hošková specified. However, according to her, capacities are often completely exhausted in recent days. “It’s common for the whole family to sleep on the cold station floor. For example, on Saturday, May 7, more than 400 people spent the night at the station, “he adds.
Roma with a Hungarian passport are unlucky
The Roma from Ukraine, who are trying to obtain temporary protection in our country, very often have dual citizenship: Ukrainian and Hungarian, which was caused by the supportive policy of Viktor Orbán. Because they are from the border, they sometimes speak only Romani or Hungarian. However, as EU citizens in our country, they cannot obtain asylum and are heading to Hungary. The problem is that lustration (respective identity verification) can last up to 10 days and refugees have nowhere to go. The situation is similar to that in Prague at the railway stations in Brno, Pardubice and other cities.
According to Hošková, however, not only refugees waiting for the application to be processed or those refused by the assistance center return here. For example, some originally went to Germany, where they were not allowed, so they return. Others decided to leave state-run refugee facilities and try to find better housing.
The Austrian wants a faster lustration
Interior Minister Vít Rakušan (STAN) said today that he was going to tighten passport controls on incoming refugees. According to him, regions should look for accommodation for Roma, because some regions have not accepted the offer of state-owned buildings. The Austrian will negotiate faster lustrations with the Hungarian Ministry of the Interior on Wednesday.
“This week I will be negotiating with the Hungarian Ministry of the Interior and he has also received a clear letter that the lustration of refugees on the Hungarian side must be faster and faster. There must be no artificial problem and those people must not be sent to us, “said the Austrian. He also wants to solve the situation with the Ukrainian Ministry of the Interior, which is planning a crime, so that the Ukrainian police focus on an organized one in the Transcarpathian region, where he says people are being sent outside the EU and are promised benefits they have no right to receive.
Roma organizations and Roma representatives on the Government Council for Roma Minority Affairs are calling on the Government Council to act in a crisis manner due to access to Roma refugees from Ukraine. On Tuesday, they called on the Prime Minister and Chairman of the Board Petr Fiala (ODS) to convene him. They addressed an open letter to him, which was published by the Romea.cz server.
In the letter, they complain about the process of accepting Roman refugees and the attitudes of the leadership of local governments, mentioning manifestations of racism or discrimination. The letter was signed by 11 RomanoNet organizations and all 13 Roma representatives from the government council. According to them, discrimination then leads to Roma refugees not having enough to eat. There is also a lack of shelter.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, the Czech Republic issued 2,817 special visas to refugees from Ukraine on Monday. Two and a half months after the start of the war, 335,164 Ukrainians received temporary protection visas.