Residents of Bedřiška are calling on the city and the district for further discussions about the fate of the location

Ostrava - Residents of the former mining colony Bedřiška in the Ostrava district of Mariánské Hory and Hulváky are again calling on the city and the district to negotiate the future of the area. They want to prevent the demolition of the Finnish houses there, which began on November 12. They wish to present their demands again at the Thursday meeting of the working group set up by the city. This was stated today by the spokesperson for the residents, Eva Lehotská. She reiterated that the demolition process was non-standard. The last house designated for demolition in the current wave is still being defended by activists who repeatedly occupy the roof of the building. The district mayor, Patrik Hujdus (Mayors for Ostrava), called on them today to leave the site for safety reasons.

"What is happening here now has been unannounced, surprising, and insensitive. It was like after a war," said Lehotská. She criticizes that neither the district nor the city is adequately addressing the demands and proposals of the residents regarding the situation. According to Lehotská, two-family houses were demolished, where residents still live in neighboring parts. "Their health and lives could have been endangered because we do not know what might have happened. We would have expected that people would be warned in advance," Lehotská said. She believes that the district's only goal was rapid demolition. "There have been several water accidents here because the networks were not disconnected; a power line was torn down. The construction site was not marked, nor was it indicated who was doing the demolition. What was happening here was a state of war; these were not demolitions," Lehotská thinks.

On Thursday, she wants to address the situation in Bedřiška again at the meeting of the working group. The residents are also trying to prevent the demolition of the last house in the current tear-down through a preliminary injunction. "Behind us is a house that is still to be demolished, and in the other half lives a mother with two children; we fear that their lives and health could be endangered. Therefore, the lady filed a proposal for a preliminary injunction, which was rejected at first, so we appealed to the regional court," noted the spokesperson for the group of residents.

The leadership of the district council has long pointed out that the Finnish houses there are beyond their lifespan and that the costs of repairing them are high. Therefore, the district wants the tenants to gradually vacate and is offering them alternative housing. The district intends to keep the area as a strategic land reserve. The tenants, on the other hand, claim that the Finnish houses are not in such poor condition.

The town hall has managed to demolish four out of five emptied houses; the fifth was occupied by opponents of the demolition. The district called on them in the afternoon to leave the building. "We ask persons who are unlawfully staying on the roof of house number 8 on Bedřišská Street to immediately cease their stay on the roof, not only for their safety. Given the current adverse weather conditions – low temperatures, frost, and snowfall – staying on the roof is very dangerous and poses a risk of falling, which can endanger not only your health but also the safety of other people in the vicinity," stated Mayor Hujdus in the call.

Today, a construction expert who collaborates with the local residents criticized the procedure for tearing down the houses but wished to remain anonymous. She pointed out that the time that elapsed between the announcement of the public contract for demolition and the actual demolition of the houses was about a month, which she claims is an unusually short period. She also considers it a mistake that the tenants of neighboring houses were not informed in writing about the demolitions, as well as the fact that during the work, utilities were not disconnected and the demolition was not sufficiently marked. According to her, the demolition also damaged one of the neighboring inhabited houses, where water is now leaking under the roof. "The roof is so damaged that it leaks and flows in. The residents of the adjoining half of the house are consequently incurring higher energy costs," she stated.

Mayor Jan Dohnal (Together) told ČTK last week that the city is monitoring the current situation in Bedřiška but will not actively intervene for now since it is property entrusted to the municipal district. "The role of the city today is to ensure that the district carries out all actions in accordance with applicable legislation, and so far that has been the case," Dohnal stated at that time. Mayor Hujdus also denied today that the district acted unlawfully.