The tensions are a troubling setback for the Vietnamese community here, long considered a regional success story. Many own thriving corner shops, speak Czech, and send their children to mainstream public schools, where they are routinely ranked at the top of their classes.
After the overthrow of Communism in 1989, thousands more Vietnamese joined those who arrived in the 1970s. Today there are an estimated 70,000 Vietnamese in the Czech Republic, the second largest foreign community after Ukrainians.