News

Romani civil society member of advisory body to Czech Government resigns over failure to remove pig farm from genocide site

15.7.2016 9:21 Miroslav Zima, the director of Drom, a Romani Center, resigned last month from the Czech Government Inter-ministerial Commission on Roma Community Affairs. One of the
reasons for his resignation is the fact that the pig farm has not yet been removed from the site of the WWII era "Gypsy camp" at Lety by Písek.
 full story

Czech Police to get new powers to disperse assemblies, spontaneous demonstrations will not have legal protection

14.7.2016 9:23 The option of being able to hold a spontaneous public assembly without first announcing it to the authorities will not be enshrined in law as the Government previously
proposed. The parameters for those entitled to announce such a public gathering to local authorities will also not be expanded, but police officers will be given new powers to disperse an assembly directly.  full story

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: It is extremely inappropriate to "catch Pokémon" in our building

13.7.2016 13:14 The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) has called on fans of the smartphone game "Pokémon Go" to stop using their building for this new form of entertainment. The institution said it is "extremely inappropriate" for players to virtually "hunt" the virtual pokémon figures in virtual representations of a place dedicated to commemorating millions of Second World War murder victims.  full story

ROMEA releases new Czech-Norwegian documentary film about aid for victims of discrimination and hate violence

13.7.2016 8:11 A new Czech-Norwegian documentary film about the situation in those countries for victims of discrimination and hate violence has been produced by staffers of the ROMEA organization in the Czech Republic. It is now available for viewing on the YouTube channel of ROMEA TV.  full story

Commentary: Czech anti-immigrant MP has a math problem

12.7.2016 8:36 The Czech politician Tomio Okamura has reported through Facebook and Twitter, as well as through his video blog, that "Muslim migrants are primarily responsible for the number of rapes in Sweden growing by a multiple of more than 1 500". Since such a claim naturally attracts our attention, let's take a look at it.  full story

Slovakia: New campaign warns of the link between online hate and real-world extremism

11.7.2016 20:13 At the end of last week the Open Society Foundation (OSF) in Slovakia launched a new campaign against hate and the sharing of hateful content online under the slogan "Saying 'but' won't hide the hate". The campaign links hatred in the online world to real-world extremism in society.  full story

USA: Protests against police violence continue, resulting in hundreds of arrests

11.7.2016 19:05 In many places throughout the entre United States, more protests were held on Sunday against the incidents last week of African-American civilians being shot dead during controversial police interventions. Demonstrators assembled again in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and St. Paul, Minnesota, the cities where the controversial police shootings took place, according to CBS News.  full story

Czech Republic: Autonomous Social Center Klinika is again open to the public, court overturns preliminary injunction

11.7.2016 14:27 The Autonomous Social Center Klinika in Prague opened to the public again on 7 July after several weeks of closure. The Municipal Court in Prague has overturned a preliminary injunction banning the center from operating.  full story

Half of the Roma in the Czech Republic live in social exclusion, members of the middle class face ethnic intolerance

11.7.2016 6:47 Half of the Romani people living in the Czech Republic are socially excluded. According to qualified estimates made by the coordinators for Romani minority affairs who work at local and regional level, that is more than 113 000 people.  full story

UK: Number of attacks on East European and Muslim immigrants grows by 42 % since the referendum

10.7.2016 23:25 The number of hate attacks against immigrants in Britain has increased 42 % since the June referendum in which British voters expressed their desire for their country to leave the European Union. The statistics were reported on 8 July by the British police.  full story

Germany: Merkel's popularity rising, anti-refugee populists losing favor

10.7.2016 18:48 German Chancellor Angela Merkel is enjoying her highest ratings since the beginning of the refugee crisis. A total of 59 % of Germans are assessing her work positively, the highest rating since last September.  full story

Czech politician files criminal report against activist who set a copy of the Quran on fire

10.7.2016 12:07 The Brno-based politician Svatopluk Bartík (Žít Brno) has filed criminal charges against Martin Konvička, head of an Islamophobic initiative now named after himself ("The Initiative of Martin Konvička"), who provoked outrage last week in front of a mosque in Brno. Konvička and his followers said they were "defending Czech culture" by setting fire to the Quran, holding a fashion show of scantily-clad women, drinking beer, and eating goulash and hot dogs.  full story

Germany: Number of refugees arriving has significantly fallen

10.7.2016 11:34 During the first six months of 2016 more than 220 000 migrants arrived in Germany. The figure was announced on 8 July by German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière.  full story

USA: African-American sniper kills five white police officers in Dallas after two African-American civilians killed by police elsewhere

9.7.2016 22:58 An armed African-American sniper identified as Micah Xavier Johnson, 25, of Mesquite, Texas, a military veteran who served in Afghanistan, killed five police officers in Dallas, Texas and injured six more during an otherwise peaceful demonstration on 7 July against police violence being committed against African-Americans. Police also arrested three other people in connection with the attack, one of them female.  full story

Germany: Romani refugees at risk of deportation occupy cathedral in Regensburg

9.7.2016 20:48 On Tuesday, 5 July, a group of more than 40 Romani refugees from states in the Balkans occupied the cathedral in the Bavarian city of Regensburg on the Danube. The local Catholic parish has decided to leave the refugees in the building and is not requesting police to intervene.  full story

England: Roma immigrant in Sheffield will not risk traveling abroad after Brexit win

8.7.2016 12:24 Czech Radio reports that concerns about the consequences of Brexit have already permeated the alleys of the northern English town of Sheffield. Many East Europeans live there now, including many Romani people from the Czech Republic or eastern Slovakia.  full story

Council of Europe demands proof of changed practice in the Czech schools when it comes to Roma discrimination

8.7.2016 11:40 The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, which supervises the fulfillment of the judgments handed down by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, discussed the case of "D.H. and Others versus the Czech Republic" at its June session. In its decision resulting from that meeting, the Committee of Ministers has expressed its appreciation for recently introduced reforms to the Czech school system that are based on the principle of inclusive education.  full story

England: Arsonists attack Polish family in Plymouth

8.7.2016 11:00 Unidentified perpetrators have set fire to a shed near a home occupied by a Polish family in Plymouth, a town in the southwest of England. The family also received a letter threatening to attack them directly next time.  full story

Italy: Racist murders refugee who fled Boko Haram

8.7.2016 10:30 Yesterday a member of the hardcore football fans generally referred to as "ultras" worldwide caused fatal injuries to a refugee from Nigeria in the town of Fermo in central Italy. Emmanuel Chidi Namdi, age 36, died as a result of his injuries in hospital yesterday, Agence France-Presse reports.  full story

Czech Republic: Roma report racism to Facebook after calls for "gypsies" to be set on fire are posted

8.7.2016 8:34 A person presenting herself on Facebook as "Bára Fictumová" now awaits criminal investigation after two Romani people, the well-known activist Jan Čonka and journalist Patrik Banga, filed a report of criminal activity over a post on that page. Fictumová has sadly now become famous on Facebook by posting the following message:  full story