News

Czech Human Rights Minister: Agency staff will either meet their obligations or leave

6.5.2015 12:21 Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier convened an extraordinary press conference yesterday to respond to the "further escalation of the situation" around the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion and the "media campaign by its employees". The staff of the Agency have announced they are considering going on strike.  full story

Charles University ethnology students occupy building and strike, demand director be removed

6.5.2015 8:42 Students of ethnology at Charles University in Prague are beginning a two-day occupation and strike on Wednesday, 6 May. Their protest is an expression of their disagreement with the director of the Institute of Ethnology, Marek Jakoubek, whose removal they seek.  full story

Czech Gov't Agency for Social Inclusion threatens strike

5.5.2015 17:35 The staff of the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion is concerned, now that its director Martin Šimáček has been removed, that the Agency will become politicized and will be incapable of fulfilling its obligations. They say they consider their negotiations to date with Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier, under whose remit the Agency falls, to have been unsatisfactory.  full story

Analysis: 1 May in Brno, Czech Republic

5.5.2015 8:34 Every other year, the city of Brno becomes a place where right-wing radicals from all over the Czech Republic gather for a 1 May demonstration. In previous years, every such assembly, irrespective of its size, has produced a completely different outcome.  full story

Film about Czechoslovak experiment with Romani children wins best documentary from Olomouc Film Academy

3.5.2015 2:31 A documentary film by Czech Television, "Suppressed Letters" (Zatajené dopisy) about an experimental school for Romani children in 1950s Czechoslovakia, has won the prize for best Czech popular science documentary from the Academia Film Olomouc. At the beginning of the experiment, children attended the boarding school voluntarily, but later attended after being forcibly taken away from their families on the presumption that their ties with their parents would be broken.  full story

Commentary: How to end "school apartheid" in Slovakia?

3.5.2015 1:43 Vlado Rafael, an expert on education who is the director of the Eduroma project, says in an interview with news server Aktuálně.sk that the courts have already ruled against a school for segregating Romani children in Slovakia. The verdict was a breakthrough - three years ago the court prohibited the school in the town of Šarišské Michaľany from segregating Romani children away from others  full story

Germany: Police say foiled terrorist attack had Islamist background

2.5.2015 23:39 Police in Germany say that a foiled terrorist attack, the object of which was most probably supposed to be a bicycle race on 1 May in the Frankfurt area, had an Islamist background. Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported on the foiled attack on 2 May, citing the spokesperson for the Hesse State Criminal Police as their source.  full story

Czech Police acted unlawfully when intervening against activists holding Czech-Romani flag

2.5.2015 21:58 The Czech Police have apologized to Romani activist Ivana Čonková for detaining her, together with evangelical priest Mikuláš Vymětal, for holding a Czech-Romani flag together at a counter-protest in January against an anti-Islamic demonstration. Čonková's complaint in the matter has been evaluated as partially justified.  full story

Slovakia must explain discrimination of Roma in the schools to the European Commission

2.5.2015 15:39 Slovakia has two months to answer several questions about its laws and practices leading to the discrimination of Romani children in the schools. The European Commission (EC) launched an infringement proceedings against Bratislava on 30 April that theoretically could end up before the European Court of Justice.  full story

Czech lower house concludes first negotiations about ombud's new powers

Prague, 2.5.2015 2:35 The Czech lower house has taken one month to complete its first reading of a Government amendment to expand the powers of the office of the Public Defender of Rights (the ombud). The delays were due to a demand from the right-wing opposition that the current Czech Public Defender of Rights, Anna Šabatová, be present during the negotiations.  full story

Slovak Police train Czech colleagues to work among Romani people

2.5.2015 2:22 Slovak police officers are training their Czech colleagues to work in Romani communities. A total of 76 officers from the Czech Republic are involved in the ongoing training visits to Slovakia.  full story

Slovak Police train Czech colleagues to work among Romani people

2.5.2015 2:22 Slovak police officers are training their Czech colleagues to work in Romani communities. A total of 76 officers from the Czech Republic are involved in the ongoing training visits to Slovakia.  full story

Czech Republic: Anarchists in Prague protest police raid and war

1.5.2015 23:25 More than 200 anarchists marched through Prague on 1 May from the Shooter's Island (Střelecký ostrov) in the Vltava River to náměstí Míru (Square of Peace). The event was a protest against a nationwide police raid against extremists this week and against war.  full story

European Commission to decide whether proceedings against Czech Republic over Roma discrimination will continue

Brussels, 1.5.2015 21:22 The European Commission should decide next week whether to continue its infringement proceedings against the Czech Republic over discrimination against Romani children in the schools. EU Justice Commissioner Věra Jourová made the announcement in an interview with the Czech media yesterday.  full story

Czech Police use tear gas, arrest 57, mostly counter-protesters of neo-Nazi march in Brno

1.5.2015 19:27 The Czech News Agency reports that approximately 1 500 people gathered in Brno today to block a march by supporters of the Workers' Youth and Workers' Social Justice Party (DSSS) called "Europe, Rise Up" (Evropo povstaň). Conveners of the blockade say the Workers' Youth is evidently linked to neo-Nazi circles.  full story

Boxer Tyson Fury, proud of his Irish Traveller origin, has challenged Wladimir Klitschko

Great Britain, 1.5.2015 5:46 BBC.com reports that Tyson Fury, the British professional boxer who is the current EBU heavyweight champion and has embraced his Irish Traveller heritage, will be the next challenger to Wladimir Klitschko. Last Saturday night Klitschko reconfirmed his position as world champion, defending his heavyweight title.  full story

Most Czechs agree with accepting refugees from war

1.5.2015 5:04 People in the Czech Republic are more willing to accept refugees today according to a survey performed by the Median agency for Czech Radio. The survey found that 42 % of Czechs would accept some refugees in a spirit of solidarity.  full story

Austria still trying to decide what to do with Hitler's birthplace

Braunau am Inn, Austria, 1.5.2015 0:44 "It's the same circus here every year," mumbles a passer-by, glancing at the small assembly in front of the golden-yellow facade. Adolf Hitler still casts a shadow over his birthplace of Braunau am Inn even 70 years after his suicide on 30 April 1945.  full story

Czech Police charge six after nationwide raid against extremists, three now in custody

30.4.2015 23:45 A court has remanded into custody three of the six people charged by police in connection with their nationwide raid against extremism on Tuesday. Štěpánka Zenklová, the spokesperson for the State Prosecutor's office in Prague, which is supervising the maneuvers, told the Czech News Agency that she will not be able to provide details about the legal qualification of the crimes involved until the investigation is completed.  full story

Germany: Former concentration camp prisoner outrages co-accusers by shaking the hand of indicted former SS member

29.4.2015 17:37 During the trial of Oskar Gröning, a former volunteer with the SS who worked at the Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz, Eva Kor, a former prisoner, shook the indicted man's hand in a gesture of reconciliation. Yesterday the 49 other Holocaust victims who are Kor's co-accusers in the lawsuit against Gröning expressed their objections to her gesture.  full story