News

Austria: Arsonists set future asylum-seeker shelter on fire

9.6.2016 6:38 A wooden building in the north of Austria near the Czech and German borders that was supposed to become a shelter for asylum seekers was set on fire last week. According to representatives of the Red Cross, which owns the building, the fire was set by arsonists.  full story

Elena Gorolová on forced sterilizations: We seek compensation, nobody will ever restore our motherhood

8.6.2016 18:33 "The financial compensation we seek is not everything. You can't buy your own child, you can't acquire what you've lost - the option of motherhood," Elena Gorolová, who has been fighting for 11 years for compensation for women who have been improperly sterilized in the former Czechoslovakia and Czech Republic, told news server iDNES.cz last week.  full story

Czech Republic: TV Prima defends its anti-refugee newscasts by referring to a non-existent broadcast regulator "decision"

7.6.2016 9:03 The FTV Prima company issued a press release last week reacting to information published by news server Hlídacípes.org ("Watchdog") that the station management
instructed newsroom producers to present refugees as a crisis, problem, and threat. In its own main news broadcasts on the issue, Prima has told its viewers that the
station has been facing a campaign based on what they are calling a "manipulated" audio recording of the meeting where the instructions were given.  full story

European Commission agrees with social media companies on a common approach against online hate

5.6.2016 13:22 On 31 May the European Commission together with firms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube published a Code of Conduct to aid in the fight against the dissemination of hate speech through the Internet. According to the code, the firms will attempt to investigate whether content is objectionable within 24 hours of being warned about it.  full story

Czech Republic: TV Prima managers caught on tape telling reporters to "obey orders" about how to report on refugees

4.6.2016 12:34 On Monday, 30 May, the organization HlídacíPes.org ("Watchdog") published essential information about the fact that the management of TV Prima instructed its news
reporters last year to always present the topic of refugees as a crisis, problem and threat. The station has since responded, calling the information mere speculation.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani women forced to undergo sterilization tell their stories through theater

3.6.2016 18:00 A theatrical production called "Stories That (Never) Began" ("Příběhy, které (ne)začaly") telling the stories of several women who were forced to undergo sterilization will be created at the Cooltour multifunctional space in Ostrava next week. Women who have survived such abuses will create the performance under the direction of theatrical professionals.  full story

Soraya Post: Roma deportations increasing due to Syrian refugee crisis

2.6.2016 18:16 The deportation of Roma refugees in Europe is increasing because of the influx of Syrian refugees in Europe, according to Soraya Post, a Swedish member of the European Parliament.
 full story

Czech Republic: Broadcasting regulator suddenly lost its quorom when vote was taken on Prima's coverage of refugees

2.6.2016 10:35 At its session on 19 April, the Council on Radio and Television Broadcasting in the Czech Republic addressed an agenda item regarding a reportage broadcast about Christian refugees from Iraq. According to the complaint submitted, the Prima television station manipulated the information it broadcast.  full story

Czech Republic: Prima TV station told reporters to depict refugees as a risk and a threat or they would be fired

31.5.2016 13:31 The Czech NGO HlídacíPes.org ("Watchdog") has testimonies from several sources inside Prima TV stating that the television station's management gave producers there clear instructions during a meeting on 7 September 2015 about what angle to take toward the refugee "crisis" in its news reporting. The station's reporting on the issue took center stage this spring because of how it chose to report on the arrival of Christian refugees from Iraq to the Czech Republic.  full story

OSCE/ODIHR Event to Focus on Justice and Redress to Roma Victims of Forced Sterilization in the Czech Republic

30.5.2016 18:50 On Wednesday, 1 June, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) will convene an international conference on providing justice and compensation to Romani women who have been subjected to forced sterilization in the Czech Republic. Those attending will be representatives of the Czech Government, survivors of forced sterilization, civil society organizations including Roma community organizations, international experts, and representatives of the Council of Europe, the OSCE/ODIHR, and the United Nations.  full story

Russia: Romani residents of Tula rebel over gas supplies

29.5.2016 11:35 In one of the biggest Romani settlements in Russia a mass battle took place several weeks ago between local residents and police. The cause was the efforts of gas technicians to cut the Romani residents off from a gas pipe they had illegally been tapping.  full story

Czech Interior Minister suing City of Prague over opinion on gallows at demonstration

29.5.2016 10:52 The Office of the Municipal Department of Prague 1 did not make an error when it failed to assess the presence of a mock-up of a gallows during a demonstration against migration last year as constituting a misdemeanor, according to Prague City Hall, which has now reviewed the appeal of that Prague 1 decision filed by Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD), who says he will now file an administrative lawsuit over City Hall's decision. Chovanec says he believes threatening people with a gallows in public must not be allowed to be considered legal.  full story

Czech Republic: Another bomb threat against the Klinka Social Center, police search building without evacuating it

29.5.2016 10:35 On 27 May an anonymous e-mailer threatened to detonate a bomb at the Klinika Autonomous Social Center in the Žižkov quarter of Prague for the third time in seven days. Klinika activists reported the threat on their Facebook profile.  full story

Germany: Romani refugees occupy Berlin memorial to Roma murdered during Nazism, police intervene

29.5.2016 9:55 Last Sunday afternoon approximately 100 people occupied Berlin's memorial to the Romani and Sinti people who were murdered by the Nazis. The protest was held under the slogan "We Are Here".  full story

Cyprus: Orthodox Church leader welcomes election of neo-Nazi MPs

28.5.2016 10:21 The leader of the Cypriot Orthodox Church, Archbishop Chrysostomos, has expressed satisfaction over the fact that neo-Nazis from the "National-People's Front" (ELAM) party made it into Parliament for the first time ever after Sunday's elections. Chrysostomos supports the deep conservatism of the Orthodox Church, which takes a hard line against the secularizing efforts of modern society and supports hate speech against minorities such as the LGBT community.  full story

European Commission launches infringement proceedings against Hungary over discrimination of Romani children

28.5.2016 9:50 On 26 May the European Commission (EC) called on Hungary to stop discriminating against Romani children in education and to adjust its laws accordingly. The Commission made the announcement within the framework of its regular review of transgressions committed by Member States against EU legislation.  full story

Germany: British neo-Nazis tweet photo of themselves giving the Nazi salute at Buchenwald

28.5.2016 8:36 Two members of a British neo-Nazi group have tweeted a photo of themselves giving the Nazi salute during a visit to the site of the former Nazi concentration camp at Buchenwald. German media drew attention to the case on 26 May and report that authorities are investigating.  full story

Czech Republic's well-loved RefuFest begins in Prague

27.5.2016 23:40 RefuFest, a favorite festival in the Czech capital, began today. The 11th annual multicultural gathering will last until the end of next week.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani members of LEV 21 party disapprove of it partnering with ultra-right in fall elections

27.5.2016 22:28 On 25 May, the National Socialists-LEV 21 party announced it would be holding a press conference to announce its collaboration with the Workers Social Justice Party (DSSS), an idea that was first announced during the 1 May demonstration by the DSSS in Ústí nad Labem this year. In addition to Petr Benda, a former MP and former chair of the North Bohemian cell of the Czech Social Democratic Party, who is currently vice-chair, Tomáš Vandas, the chair of the extremist DSSS, was scheduled to attend the press conference.  full story

Timea Junghaus: Roma art as an act of resistance

27.5.2016 21:27 On May 16, Europe’s Roma commemorated the 1944 uprising in the so-called Zigeunerlager (“Gypsy Camp”) in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Today, the idea of Roma resistance is understood as the Roma people’s perseverance in fighting different forms of oppressions, now and in the past.  full story