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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.
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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

Commentary: Polish reporter will discuss her book about Roma this week in Prague and Plzeň

11.9.2016 17:15 Polish reporters are known even beyond the country's borders, and currently their readership is growing more and more. Their success consists, among other things, in their imaginative use of the wide range of material that this particular genre, which lies on the border between journalism and literature, undoubtedly offers.  full story

Analysis: How the Czech media handled the Vice PM's anti-Roma election stunt

11.9.2016 9:44 Why did the Czech Vice Prime Minister visit Varnsdorf?  full story

Czech Police confirm local officers did not proceed absolutely correctly in case of gunfire near Romani children's camp

9.9.2016 10:54 Detectives have again opened the case of the warning shots fired into the air near a children's camp in the town of Jiřetín pod Jedlovou (Děčín district) where Romani children were spending time this summer. The initial approach taken by police in the case was not absolutely correct.  full story

Slovak MP says the Holocaust is a "fairy tale and a lie", police will not prosecute

8.9.2016 16:12 Milan Mazurek, an MP for Kotleba's People's Party Our Slovakia (ĽSNS) and chair of the party's regional club in Prešov, will not be prosecuted for saying that the Holocaust is a "fairy tale and a lie". "I am not advocating for any regime, but we only know fairy tales and lies about the Third Reich, and six million, and soap made from Jews. What we are taught about Hitler is all lies," Mazurek posted to his Facebook profile.  full story

Hungarian Prosecutor charges camerawoman who kicked asylum-seekers with rioting

8.9.2016 14:42 Yesterday in Budapest the Hungarian camerawoman who allegedly tripped one refugee carrying a child and kicked others a year ago at the border between Hungary and Serbia was charged with rioting by a local prosecutor. Petra László, who lost her job over the incident, has both apologized for assaulting the asylum seekers and repeatedly attempted to defend what she did.  full story

Commentary: The pigs at Lety and Babiš shooting himself in the foot

8.9.2016 14:04 From 2007-2009 I served as Czech Education Minister, and together with [Human Rights Minister] Michael Kocáb we attempted, among other things, to advocate for the removal of the pig farm from the site at Lety u Písku. We were not concerned with just that location, but also with the site at Hodonín u Kunštátu, where a similar camp ran during the war, one that is remembered even less than Lety is.  full story

Czech Vice PM calls Roma "parasites" during his visit to Roma Holocaust site

8.9.2016 7:45 During the past few days we have witnessed an absolute masterwork of manipulation and the populist abuse of power in the Czech Republic. Czech Vice Prime Minister and Finance Minister Andrej Babiš is a political phenomenon who apparently still has a lot to say to the country.  full story

UNICEF: 28 million children worldwide are fleeing war, most are in Turkey

8.9.2016 6:54 Yesterday the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) announced that there are 28 million children who have had to leave their homes due to wartime conflicts, while another 20 million have had to leave their homes due to criminal violence or poverty. In a document called "Uprooted", the organization states that 45 % of child refugees come from two countries, Afghanistan and Syria.  full story

Council of Europe chief says discrimination against Romani people continues to be ignored

7.9.2016 11:02 The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjörn Jagland, criticized the deterioration in the situation of Roma and Sinti people in Europe today. Jagland believes discrimination against members of these minority groups is frequently ignored or overlooked.  full story

Czech Police arrest drunk giving Nazi salute and shouting "Death to Gypsies"

7.9.2016 8:22 A drunken man giving the Nazi salute and shouting racist slogans was arrested last Saturday before noon on Vodičkova Street by the Prague 1 Municipal Police. The case is being investigated by the Police of the Czech Republic.  full story

Civil society members of Czech Government's Roma advisory body outraged by Vice PM's remarks about Roma Holocaust site

7.9.2016 7:49 The Romani civil society members of the Czech Government Council on Romani Minority Affairs are outraged by the Czech Vice Prime Minister's recent remarks about the former so-called "Gypsy camp" at Lety u Písku. Members of the council have called on Andrej Babiš, who is also Finance Minister, to keep his publicly-declared promise and arrange financing for the purchase of the pig farm now located on the site.  full story