Czech Republic

Czech ministers to visit Šluknov district to address excluded localities

Prague, 5.5.2014 20:14, (ROMEA) Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier, Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec, and Czech Labor Minister Michaela Marksová Tominová (all Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD) will be visiting the Šluknov district next Monday. The ministers will be addressing the problems of socially excluded localities together with the mayors of local municipalities.  full story

Czech Republic: Towns in northern Bohemia fear more anti-Romani demos

Prague, 5.5.2014 19:30, (ROMEA) The Saturday edition of the Czech daily Lidové noviny reported that mayors of 18 municipalities in northern Bohemia are concerned that the upcoming municipal elections will mark the resumption of anti-Romani demonstrations in the region. In a letter to the Czech Government, they have complained that no one is addressing the situation of the Romani minority in the Šluknov district and that this failure could result in a new wave of the violent racist protests that inflamed the region three years ago.  full story

Czech PM to attend commemorative ceremony at Roma Holocaust site

Lety u Písku, 5.5.2014 18:16, (ROMEA) The traditional commemorative ceremony dedicated to the Romani victims of Nazism in the South Bohemian town of Lety near Písek will take place this year under the auspices of Czech Culture Minister Daniel Herman and will be attended by Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka. Čeněk Růžička of the Committee for the Redress of the Roma Holocaust, which holds the event, informed news server Romea.cz of the news on 3 May.  full story

Czech mayors, regional official ask EdMin not to close "practical primary" schools

Czech Republic, 4.5.2014 18:00, (ROMEA) The mayors of Chlumec nad Cidlinou and Nový Bydžov in Hradec Králové Region are asking the Czech Education Minister not to let schools providing special needs education die out. Their open letter has been signed by a regional councilor and by dozens of municipalities and schools from all over the Czech Republic.  full story

Czech Republic: Yet another fiasco for the DSSS - 10 people, not 400, in Brno

Brno, 3.5.2014 23:54, (ROMEA) About 10 people attended an election rally for the right-wing extremist Workers' Social Justice Party (Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti - DSSS) on the centrally-located náměstí Svobody in Brno today. Conveners of the rally had anticipated as many as 400 of its supporters to attend.  full story

PHOTO GALLERY: Neo-Nazi 1 May in Ústí nad Labem

Ústí nad Labem, 2.5.2014 23:52, (ROMEA) As news server Romea.cz reported in detail during our online coverage and follow-up articles, neo-Nazis decided to "celebrate" 1 May this year by marching through Ústí nad Labem. Of the anticipated 500 participants, only 200 of the most faithful came to town, not just from the Czech Republic, but from Germany, Italy and Slovakia.  full story

videoVIDEO: Roma demonstration against neo-Nazi march in Ústí nad Labem

Ústí nad Labem, 2.5.2014 23:41, (ROMEA) About 100 Romani people marched on 1 May 2014 from the Předlice quarter of Ústí nad Labem to the Mánesový sady park. A convoy of vehicles carrying other Romani people drove behind them. Other opponents of neo-Nazism who were gathered at Mánesový sady joined them. After the neo-Nazi march passed by, the Romani counter-protesters returned to Předlice.  full story

videoMiroslav Kováč: How do we stand up to neo-Nazism - with arms, or with diplomacy?

Prague, 2.5.2014 22:04, (ROMEA) Photos of yesterday's DSSS rally in Ústí nad Labem are being shared on Facebook. Among Romani people, the image that is resounding the most is one in which, after a conversation, the chair of the Equal Opportunities Party (SRP), Štefan Tišer, shakes hands with DSSS chair Tomáš Vandas.  full story

videoCzech Republic: Europe Roma Network condemns SRP chair for shaking hands with DSSS chair

Prague/Ústí nad Labem, 2.5.2014 21:12, (ROMEA) The Europe Roma Network, a Europe-wide Romani association, is condemning the chair of the Equal Opportunities Party, Štefan Tišer, for shaking hands with DSSS chair Tomáš Vandas at a rally yesterday in Ústí nad Labem. Ladislav Baláž, chair of the ERN, communicated the information to news server Romea.cz.  full story

Czech Republic: Defense and prosecution appeal Strýčkovice verdict

Domažlice, 2.5.2014 20:10, (ROMEA) Ladislav Matuš and his nephew David Matuš of Strýčkovice (Domažlice district) were given prison sentences on 25 April for assaulting their neighbor, Jiří Sýkora. David Matuš was sentenced to 10 months behind bars and Ladislav Matuš to two years.  full story

Czech trial of violent death of Romani man during police intervention continues

Sokolov, 1.5.2014 23:11, (ROMEA) At the end of April, the trial continued in the case of the violent death of a Romani worker after a police intervention in the West Bohemian town of Kynšperk nad Ohří. While two local police officers have been charged with negligent homicide in the case, they remain on active duty.  full story

Czech lower house asks courts to close the Equal Opportunities Party, Roma Democratic Party and others

Prague, 1.5.2014 21:11, (ROMEA) The Audit Committee of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic has reported that while 106 political parties submitted complete annual financial reports for last year, another 56 submitted incomplete reports or none at all. The committee has asked the Government to file a motion with the Supreme Administrative Court to close the parties not in compliance.  full story

Czech Republic: More than 200 people protest against neo-Nazi march in Ústí nad Labem

Ústí nad Labem, 1.5.2014 19:05, (ROMEA) A march by the right-wing extremist Workers' Social Justice Party (Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti - DSSS) and its supporters through the center of the Czech town of Ústí nad Labem took place today without any serious problems. Police addressed several small scuffles involving anti-fascists.  full story

videoCzech Republic: 200 neo-Nazis, same number of counter-protesters march in Ústí nad Labem

Ústí nad Labem, 1.5.2014 17:51, (ROMEA) About 200 neo-Nazis gathered today in Ústí nad Labem for an assembly and march through the center of town. The event was convened at 14:00 as an electoral rally of the right-wing extremist Workers' Social Justice Party (Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti - DSSS).  full story

Czech Republic: Indonesian Embassy complains about police raid on mosque

Prague, 1.5.2014 17:29, (ROMEA) The Indonesian Embassy has delivered a diplomatic note to the Czech Foreign Ministry regarding last Friday's police intervention at a mosque in the center of Prague. In the note, the embassy references provisions of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.  full story

Commentary: Czech special educators fear the inevitable - inclusive education

Prague, 1.5.2014 0:09, (ROMEA) In the Czech Republic the Association of Special Educators (Asociace speciálních pedagogů - ASP) is cringing and their supporters are sounding the alarm as if they were in real distress. On 19 April, the regional edition of the daily Mf DNES published an interview with Václav Mrštík, director of a regional-level educational-psychological counseling center, entitled "Psychologist: The law is more Catholic than the Pope and does not take children into consideration" (Psycholog: Zákon je papežštější než papež. Vůbec nehledí na děti.)  full story

Czech Republic: Ultra-right marches tomorrow in Ústí, Romea.cz will report online in real time

Prague/Ústí nad Labem, 30.4.2014 17:52, (ROMEA) Extraordinary security measures are being undertaken for an assembly followed by a march which has been convened for 1 May in the center of Ústí nad Labem by the right-wing extremist Workers' Social Justice Party (Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti - DSSS). Police estimate that around 500 supporters of the DSSS might come to Ústí for the march.  full story

Czech Police raid mosque, charge man with disseminating racism

Prague, 29.4.2014 0:03, (ROMEA) On 25 April police officers raided two buildings of the Islamic Foundation (Islámská nadace - IN) in Prague, one near Wenceslas Square and one near the Černý Most metro station, that are used by members of the Muslim community as gathering places. The raid was performed on the suspicion that the foundation was publishing and distributing books that disseminate anti-Semitism, racism, violence against so-called inferior races, and xenophobia.  full story

Czech Republic: Úsvit running a racist, xenophobic EP campaign

Prague, 28.4.2014 18:16, (ROMEA) The Úsvit (Dawn of Direct Democracy) movement of Czech MP Tomio Okamura has officially launched its racist, xenophobic election campaign. The movement is using a poster depicting white sheep kicking a black sheep off of the Czech flag along with slogans against immigrants and Roma.  full story

Former Czech Green Party candidate owns tabloid publishing anti-Roma articles

Prague, 26.4.2014 20:50, (ROMEA) "If Gypsies beat up a pub owner, I'll write six articles about it and keep on writing them... I'll say it's a Rom no matter what the cost. If whites beat up a white guy, or if a white guy beats up a Rom... then no," the editor-in-chief of the tabloid news server Extra.cz, Pavel Novotný, says of his practices in the recent Czech documentary film "Tabloid Workers" (Dělníci bulváru).  full story