Czech Republic

Czech court: 2.5 years for arson attempt on Romani-occupied building

České Budějovice, 25.4.2014 23:38, (ROMEA) The District Court in České Budějovice has announced its verdict in an attempted arson case from last year. The perpetrator was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison without the possibility of parole for intending to commit felony intimidation.  full story

Czech Police mobilizing: 500 neo-Nazis heading to Ústí nad Labem

Prague, 24.4.2014 15:38, (ROMEA) Czech Police units from Liberec Region and Prague will beef up the Ústí Regional Police on 1 May for a march by hundreds of supporters of the Workers' Social Justice Party (Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti - DSSS). Football hooligans are evidently planning to attend the event as well.  full story

Czech Republic: Neo-Nazis to gather 1 May in Ústí, civic initiatives protecting ghettos

Ústí nad Labem, 19.4.2014 21:11, (ROMEA) Civic initiatives have announced that they have reserved the streets leading to the socially excluded localities in the Czech town of Ústí nad Labem for 1 May. The initiatives want to prevent local occupants from being targeted by the neo-Nazis who are planning to march through the center of town that same day.  full story

Czech Republic: Five years on, Romani arson victims still live in fear

Praha/Budišov, 19.4.2014 19:12, (ROMEA) News server ČT24.cz reports that 19 April marks five years from the moment when four right-wing extremists used Molotov cocktails to attack a home occupied by a Romani family in the Czech town of Vítkov. The perpetrators of the attack are behind bars for now.  full story

Do the Czech courts believe "black swine" is not a racist insult?

České Budějovice, 19.4.2014 2:18, (ROMEA) News server 5plus2.cz reports that a court has sentenced 23 people for perpetrating last year's anti-Romani violence at the Máj housing estate in České Budějovice. Not one person was charged with or convicted of racial motivation.  full story

Commentary: Is Roma unemployment a cause or an effect?

Prague, 19.4.2014 0:24, (ROMEA) I find myself in complete agreement with representatives of the Czech Labor Office when it comes to the dead-end position of the Romani community here. They have said they consider Romani integration into society insufficient, and also that they fear further deterioration of the situation and the growth of right-wing extremism.  full story

Czech prosecutor says 2013 arson attempt not racially motivated

České Budějovice, 18.4.2014 22:46, (ROMEA) A man who attempted to set fire to a building occupied by Romani families in České Budějovice on 14 July last year is evidently facing a punishment on the lower end of the scale. The state prosecutor does not believe his crime to have been racially motivated and has instead called it "the behavior of a drunkard".  full story

Czech senator racially insults Roma with fake 15th-century quote

Prague, 17.4.2014 0:05, (ROMEA) Czech Senator Jozef Regec believes "gypsies" are an "unclean race". On his Facebook profile he has referenced words allegedly written by Czech religious reformer Jan Hus in the 15th century condemning members of that ethnicity.  full story

Czech ombud: What threats do minorities face and why does the majority feel at risk?

Brno, 16.4.2014 22:45, (ROMEA) Czech ombud Anna Šabatová recently gave a speech to open the 23rd annual "Dialogue in the Center of Europe" symposium, the topic of which was "People on the Margins", organized by the Bernard Bolzano Society and the Munich-based Ackermann-Gemeinde. News server Romea.cz publishes the speech in full translation below.  full story

Are these "gypsies" or Roma, rumors vs. real life?

Brno, 16.4.2014 21:09, (ROMEA) You can tell a public discussion in the Czech Republic is about Romani people by one particular feature: There are always more "experts" sitting in the hall than on the panel, and they unfortunately never have enough of an opportunity to speak. All of their time is usurped by the "pseudo-humanists" who are invited to address them.  full story

New Czech Police Commissioner wants to fight extremism, hooligans and tax crime

14.4.2014 23:27, (ROMEA) Czech Police Commissioner Tomáš Tuhý, appointed this past Saturday, is including the fight against drugs and street crime, extremism, and violence at stadium events among his priorities. He also wants to focus on tax crime and is supposed to be preparing a special unit called Cobra for that purpose.  full story

One Czech Facebook page calling for the killing of "gypsies" shut down, one still open

Prague, 12.4.2014 6:27, (ROMEA) For the past several days the Facebook social networking site has hosted an openly hateful, racist page in the Czech language called "We demand impunity for shooting gypsies" (Požadujeme beztrestné vystřílení cikánů). On 11 April at 11:08 AM, news server Romea.cz published an article about the fact that according to communications with those who reported the page, Facebook did not find that it violated its "community principles".  full story

Andrej Giňa: Paťiv. - We Still Know What Respect Is.

Prague, 10.4.2014 22:43, (ROMANO VOĎI ) It is no exaggeration to say that without Andrej Giňa (born 1936) there would be no Romani literature. At the very least it would be deprived not only of a number of excellent texts that can absolutely be compared to the better works of Czech literature, but also of a distinctive author who brought to Romani writing an irreplaceable variety of styles, themes and topics.  full story

Czech town closes residential hotel, creates a new ghetto

Varnsdorf, 10.4.2014 20:52, (ROMEA) A new ghetto is now arising in the northern Bohemian town of Varnsdorf. The area is filling up with people who have left a municipally-run residential hotel after the town leadership tightened the conditions for accommodation there.  full story

Jarmila Balážová: Petition against foreigners is cheap, hateful and populist

Prague, 10.4.2014 20:20, (ROMEA) The opposition "Dawn of Direct Democracy" (Úsvit) movement is launching a petition for tightening EU immigration policy. According to the head of the movement, Czech MP Tomio Okamura, the petition is being launched EU-wide and its aim is to change the relevant legislation on immigration.  full story

Czech poll: Roma least-liked, Russians lose favor

Prague, 10.4.2014 16:26, (ROMEA) A survey taken in March by the Center for Public Opinion Research (Centrum pro výzkum veřejného mínění - CVVM) in the Czech Republic has found that Czechs still prefer Slovaks (as in previous years) and still like Romani people the least, while their view of Russians has worsened. The Roma were described as "unlikeable" by almost four-fifths of respondents.  full story

Czech Gov't Agency for Social Inclusion director: Inclusion is a trend that cannot be stopped

Prague, 9.4.2014 23:29, (ROMEA) "Inclusion is a trend that cannot be stopped. More and more parents are behind it and more and more directors are managing their schools to be open to all children," said Martin Šimáček, director of the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion in an interview for the second issue of the Škola All Inclusive newsletter, which news server Romea.cz brings you in translation below.  full story

Commentary: "Fear and Loathing" in the Dawn of Direct Democracy party

Prague, 9.4.2014 20:28, (ROMEA) Czech author Bohumil Hrabal once wrote of his friend Vladimír Boudník that he was renewing the myth of Dionysius (the drunken beauty who is the source of all creative action) and the myth of Antaeus (the hero who was only strong as long as he remained in contact with the earth). Czech MP Tomio Okamura is now reviving a few myths of his own as well.  full story

Czech Gov't report: More than 41 000 people consider Romanes their mother tongue

Prague, 9.4.2014 18:40, (ROMEA) More than 41 000 people in the Czech Republic consider Romanes their mother tongue. Four-fifths of them also consider Czech their mother tongue as well.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani activist says excluded localities aren't just about welfare

Karviná, 9.4.2014 0:01, (ROMEA) They may be poor, but their culture is rich. That's how Milan Horváth, General Director of the Excluded Locality Center (Centrum pro vyloučenou lokalitu) describes the group of people who have come together in the New Town neighborhood of the Czech town of Karviná.  full story