News

Czech documentary about Romani footballers premiered yesterday in Prague

17.9.2016 10:09 After the unanticipated cancellation of the premiere of the documentary film "FC ROMA" at the stadium of the Bohemians Praha 1905 football club earlier this week, the film was screened at a different location yesterday evening. The Containall arts and entertainment space in Prague's Lesser Quarter agreed to be the venue.  full story

Czech Police officers accused of abusing power over disproportionate use of force against Romani workers

16.9.2016 7:57 The Inspector-General of the Security Forces (GIBS) has accused Czech Police officers of abusing their power last September when they intervened against Romani agricultural workers in a field of legally-cultivated hemp near the village of Bukovany in the Česká Lípa district. News server Romea.cz reported the incident and developments in the case were published earlier this week by news server Novinky.cz, referring to information from the print edition of the Právo daily paper.  full story

Jitka Hatinová: All children must get the same chance to be educated

16.9.2016 6:35 Even though Jitka Hatinová is a special needs educator today, her first desire was to become a nurse. In fact, she even graduated from nursing school.  full story

EU: Juncker and Verhofstadt warn against nationalists and populists

15.9.2016 13:55 Belgian MEP Guy Verhofstadt, chair of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) at the European Parliament (EP), said yesterday that the solution to uncontrolled globalization and virulent nationalism and populism on the old continent is a new, reformed, stronger European Union. His remarks were made in response to the speech on the state of the union given by the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker.  full story

Analysis: The Czech town of Varnsdorf is cursed by its populists

15.9.2016 12:23 Czech Vice Prime Minister Babiš has concentrated public attention once again on the northern Bohemian town of Varnsdorf, which was the scene of pogrom-like marches on Romani-occupied residential hotels in 2011. This year Babiš has become the king of the Varnsdorf populists, freely continuing the legacy, for example, of Czech MP Ivana Řápková and of local neo-Nazis.  full story

Czech historian responds to tabloid disinformation about Romani Holocaust site

15.9.2016 8:16 The "Gypsy Camp" at Lety by Písek in Bohemia was established on 2 August 1942. It was located on the site of a transit camp that had previously been a disciplinary labor camp.  full story

Czech MP says Roma "don't go to work" and are "parasites on our social system"

14.9.2016 17:15 "A certain group of inhabitants doesn't go to work and are parasites on our social system, and if they are poorly integrated and in the majority [locally], then residents who are doing their best to uphold our standards and meet their work obligations are not absolutely understood by that group and are oppressed by them," Czech MP Radka Maxová (ANO) said during a discussion program broadcast by Czech Radio Plus on the evening of 12 September. The topic of the discussion was supposed to be the remarks made by Czech Finance Minister Andrej Babiš, who heads the ANO movement, about the former concentration camp for Romani people at Lety by Písek and about the situation in socially excluded localities.  full story

Czech court rejects Interior Ministry lawsuit over gallows mock-ups

14.9.2016 16:18 The Municipal Court in Prague has rejected a lawsuit filed by the Czech Interior Ministry against the Prague 1 Municipal Department over mock-ups of gallows that were used during demonstrations against Islam last year. The local authority assessed the action of bringing the mock-ups to a public assembly as lawful.  full story

Commentary: An oasis of green and white has been flooded with Brownshirt mud

14.9.2016 15:27 The Bohemians Praha 1905 football club, based in the Vršovice quarter of Prague, is wearing a coat of shame today. Actually, we all are.  full story

Russia: Massacre of Romani people in the Urals, two dead, six injured, media reporting is biased

14.9.2016 7:56 A tragic exchange of gunfire in Russia between a group of Romani people and three local non-Romani businessmen on Saturday, 3 September has resulted in the deaths of two Romani people and the injury of six. Some media outlets in Russia are reporting the incident as an assault perpetrated by a group of armed Roma on some unsuspecting local entrepreneurs who had no choice but to defend their own lives and protect their family members.  full story

Czech football club backed down to racists within its own fan base over documentary screening

14.9.2016 6:53 After the Bohemians Praha 1905 football club decided to cancel the premiere of the documentary film "FC Roma" by Rozálie Kohoutová and Tomáš Bojar, the news server iSport.cz published an interview with the boss of the Bohemians Fan Club, Luďek Provazník, about the issue. It was the Fan Club that insisted on the cancellation.  full story

Czech Republic: Hundreds of Romani people will go on pilgrimage to Svatý Kopeček

13.9.2016 19:56 This coming Saturday,hundreds of Romani people from all over the Czech Republic and Slovakia will make their traditional pilgrimage to Svatý Kopeček near the city of Olomouc. Pilgrims will set out for the Basilica from the nearby village of Samotiška and will attend a mass officiated by a Romani priest at Svatý Kopeček as well as other planned events.
 full story

Czech Republic: Babylonfest, a parade of national minorities, begins in Brno today

13.9.2016 13:34 Babylonfest, a festival and parade by the national minorities living in the Czech Republic's second-largest city, will begin today in Brno. The ninth annual festival will run through Saturday.  full story

"Roma Rising" exhibition featuring portraits of Roma from Czech Republic to open in Kladno

13.9.2016 7:12 On Thursday, 15 September at 17:00 the exhibition "Roma Rising" will open at the Sládečkovo Vlastivědné Muzeum (the Sládeček Museum of Local History) in the Czech town of Kladno and will remain on view until 27 November 2016. The exhibition features portraits of Roma from the Czech Republic who have managed to make it in mainstream society and honors their bravery and determination.  full story

Slovak web portals change their background color to light brown to commemorate Holocaust victims

12.9.2016 20:05 On 9 September, news server Pravda.sk and three other Slovak web portals changed the background color of their web pages to light brown. The gesture was meant to remind their readers of the Memorial Day to the Victims of the Holocaust and Racial Violence, as well as to draw attention to the radicalization of the Slovak public - and not just in anonymous online debates.  full story

Czech football club cancels screening of documentary about Romani footballers after fans threaten violence

12.9.2016 19:20 Because of serious threats made by a group of their fans, the Bohemians Praha 1905 football club has decided to cancel tomorrow's scheduled premiere of the film "FC Roma" The documentary by Rozálie Kohoutová and Tomáš Bojar has been nominated for a Czech Lion award and has already won the Pavel Koutecký Prize.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani police officer says work with children is the most important thing

12.9.2016 17:01 News server Novinky.cz has published a report about Ladislav Horváth (age 33), one of a very few Romani people to work as a state police officer in the Czech Republic. He set out to become a member of law enforcement 11 years ago and the profession still fulfills him today.  full story

Czech officials disperse assembly for disparaging Islam

12.9.2016 16:06 Police dispersed a public event held yesterday called "To Mecca with Humor" and convened by the anti-Islamic Martin Konvička Initiative (IMK), which was held in front of the Embassy of Saudi Arabia on Korunovační Street in Prague and attended by approximately 50 Islamophobes. Bureaucrats from Prague City Hall called on police to disperse the gathering.  full story

Ida Kelarová: Czech Police did not come when we called the emergency line - they neither helped nor protected the children

12.9.2016 7:28 Ida Kelarová disagrees with some of the conclusions drawn by the internal affairs department of the Ústecký Regional Police Department and is shocked by how the Czech Police are introducing confusion into the description of how she and others reported the aggressive, racist behavior of a resident of Jiřetín pod Jedlovou against those attending her Romano drom summer arts school from 30 July - 13 August there in collaboration with the world-famous Czech Philharmonic. "I insist that the police never came to investigate after we reported the incidents by calling the 158 number," she told news server Romea.cz on 10 September.  full story

Czech Republic: Police propose charging four neo-Nazis for assaulting demonstrators supporting refugee reception

11.9.2016 18:57 The Prague Police have proposed charging just four people for their role in a February incident on Thunovská Street in Prague during which a group of masked men assaulted demonstrators marching in support of migrants. Police have halted the prosecution of a fifth person accused in the incident.  full story