The police officers used permanent markers to write registration numbers on the wrists and arms of about 214 migrants – most of them Syrian refugees – who entered the country via its southeastern border in trains arriving from Austria and Hungary.
This act was deemed controversial by many, who saw a striking similarity to the way numbers were written on concentration camp prisoners in Nazi Germany.
“There is no law allowing the police to mark people like this,” said Zuzana Candigliota, a lawyer with the Czech Human Rights League.
The police authorities defended their actions, arguing that there were a lot of children among the migrants and that the numbering was done to prevent the minors from getting lost.
Katerina Rendlova, a spokeswoman for a unit of the Czech police dealing with foreigners, also added that the officers also wrote on the arms of migrants the numbers of trains in which they arrived, in order to know where to return the refugees.
“They agreed to this procedure, they have no problem with it,” Rendlova added.
The ministry also added that the police guidelines will be revised so as to avoid such sensitive situations in the future.
Meanwhile, a majority of Czechs are unhappy with the way their government is handling the refugee crisis, according to a poll conducted by Focus agency.
The vast majority of respondents (87%) consider the recent surge of migrants a significant problem for the country, and 57% of respondents don’t like the way the government is dealing with it. Also, 78% of the respondents believe that the EU should restore border control between its member states even if it would put certain restrictions on the free movement of European citizens.
