Is it true that in the Czech Republic there were signs “Entrance are prohibited from Ukrainians” in stores?

At the end of May, Russian media reported that in Prague the owners of some stores banned the entrance to Ukrainians because of the increased cases of theft. This ban is allegedly confirmed by a couple of photos. We checked whether the Czechs posted such prohibitive signs.

In the media about the ban on the entrance to Ukrainians to Prague stores, they began to write massively on May 26. In publications, they referred to posts from social networks with two photographs. These pictures capture two windows of clothing stores, on which signs in the colors of the Ukrainian flag are supposedly hanging and with the inscription “Ukrainians VXID is fenced” (“The entrance is prohibited from Ukrainians”). At the same time, sellers and control boutiques allegedly admitted that they were tired of the frequent thefts and impudent behavior of refugees, therefore, they are forced to take such radical measures.

So, these provocative prohibition signs were written on Internet resources Eadaily, "Expert", "Public News Service", "Morning.ru", "Federal News Agency" And "Pravda.ru", on newspaper sites "Komsomolskaya Pravda" And "Moscow Komsomolets"as well as television channels "Ren-TV", "Tsargrad" And "360 °". There are records from a photo of the tablets in Telegram channels "War with Fakes" (153,000 views) and Rogandar News (55,000), and also in such publics in VKontakte as "Summarians from the militia of New Russia" (23,000), "Rhinoceros" (79,000), "News of the President of Russia!" (14,000) and "Russia VS NATO" (15,000).

The earliest publication of pictures of stores with anti -Ukrainian signs, which we were able to find, appeared In the Telegram channel "Ukropsky Fresh" (917,000 views) on May 25 at 22:58 Moscow time. It indicates that the photo was sent by the subscriber Alexander M.

On the morning of May 26, the Czech English -language edition of Prague Morning also spoke about the ban, placing Photos of windows with signs in their social networks. The records accompanied the question: “Have you noticed similar signs in the city? We are a little in shock. " Users were outraged that Ukrainians were banned from visiting shops, and called such actions unacceptable. Some even They wrote Insults and called for boycott these stores.

Then Czech journalists became interested in Prague Morning. For example, photo correspondent of Deník newspaper I visited One of the stores just a few tens of minutes after the posts were released, but did not find any signs about Ukrainians on the window. According to the surprised seller of the boutique, they never placed the sign “Ukrainians, the entrance is prohibited”.

In the same way, Marcel Abdel Fattakhova, the owner of the store of the hosiery on Sokolovskaya Street in the Karlin region, also reacted in the same way. “I am now doing anything else. Clients and acquaintances turn to us, and I have to explain to everyone that this is a fake photo. We have never had such a sign here. I am not interested in politics and I certainly do not want to forbid anyone to enter the store, ”- told She Prague newspaper added that she wants to contact Prague Morning publishers for clarification. Correspondents of the portal IDNES.CZ She said that she is sympathetic to refugees, their store is unfairly criticized and her husband will turn to the police due to reputation damage. 

And Deník employees themselves contacted the Prague Morning editors to find out where these pictures came from. Reportedthat the origin of the photo was not disclosed there, but they insisted that they were genuine. There were no answers to subsequent questions about whether the editors were checked by the presence of a plate on their own. Nevertheless, posts from the social networks Prague Morning were removed. Later one of the users indicated The fact that the publication still should be released. Then on Twitter Prague Morning appeared New post: “We apologize. This morning, one of our readers sent these photos to us on Facebook*. He said that he had made them yesterday during the day, and we believed him. This is our mistake. " In another tweet Addedthat, according to the profile of this reader, he is an Englishman living in Prague.

In the afternoon of May 26, a refutation appeared And in the Facebook of the store Punčocháče Karlín. They posted the photo of the windows and signed it as follows: “This is a reality! The post on the Prague Morning page was a fake, and now it is deleted. We are glad for everyone. ” Note that in the place where there was supposedly a prohibiting sign, a white piece of paper is placed with the address of the online store. Moreover, judging by the reflection of the street, it is glued behind the glass.

Your investigation Spent And the Czech site Seznam ZPRáv. They found out that the second store is in the same area as the aforementioned tights store. According to the owner of the owner of the fashionable Boths Inside Lenka Vrzalova, no sign hung in the store, in this place there is only an empty board. She also said that she would consult her daughter about whether it was worth contacting the police, although the portal IDNES.CZ She admitted that she did not see the point in this. Journalists Seznam Zpráv talked And with Marcelo Abdel Fattakhova, who once again confirmed that she had nothing to do with the sign: "It is very angry, this is human stupidity." Fattakhova added that she did not know why she would glue such a sign if she just sells tights.

There is a comment on the representative of the Czech trade inspection on the Seznam ZPRáv website. He declaredthat if the owner prohibits the entrance of a certain group of people, whether it is Slovaks, Germans or Ukrainians, then he violates the ban on discrimination. In this case, he faces a fine of up to 3 million Czech crowns in accordance with the Law on the Protection of Consumer Rights. According to the message IDNES.CZ From May 26, the police spokesman said that law enforcement agencies know about this incident, but at that time the victims have not yet submitted official statements.

In addition to journalistic investigations, you can find a lot of comments and photos of stores from local residents on the network. According to them, they, too, have never seen such prohibitive tablets in these stores. For example, the Picabu user Icizinec wrote that on May 26 he personally went to these stores (between them only about 100 m) and did not see the signs. May 27 he Published Photos of both facades without anti -Ukrainian signs.

Based on the words of the owners and employees of stores, as well as local residents, we can conclude that the entrance to Ukrainians was not prohibited. Some users suggested that someone quietly attached signs, quickly photographed them, and then took off. But, most likely, there was a regular photomontation, and in favor of this version a couple of facts speaks. Firstly, according to data IDNES.CZ, the place on the glass, where the sign was supposedly glued, is covered with dust. So it does not seem that there was something there late. Secondly, in the picture you can notice that there is a reflection of a car on a prohibitive sign, that is, it was supposedly glued behind the glass. But there is already a white sheet with the site, so first it would have to be removed, and then hang it back. It is unlikely that it would work out to do this.

*Russian authorities They think Meta Platforms Inc., which owns the social network Facebook, an extremist organization, its activities in Russia are prohibited.

Photo on the cover: Prague Morning

Fake

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