Nicolas Dirda, a Roma man, was stabbed to death on June 10 on a tram in the Czech Republic as he travelled to a firework display at a lake just outside the country’s second city, Brno.

The murder sparked angry protests among the Roma, a significant minority who number about 250,000 in the country of 10.5 million.

Media reports pinned the murder on a Ukrainian person without any confirmation from police authorities.

Powered by rumour and fake claims of further crimes, a series of confrontations has followed. Roma are clashing with members of the group of 350,000 or so Ukrainian refugees that the Czech Republic has taken in since Russia’s President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.