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Czech Christian Democrats strip local councilor of party membership over his racist remarks about refugees

6.9.2015 23:58 Daniel Kalenda, a local councilor in the town of Liberec and member of the Czech Christian Democratic Party (KDU-ČSL) who made hateful, pejorative remarks about the refugees who recently perished in a truck in eastern Austria near the Hungarian border, has been stripped of his membership by party leaders. Kalenda posted the following remarks, among others, to social networking sites: "God, 71 dead on a highway in Austria... And should we be crying? They say they ran out of air the minute the doors were closed. What do you expect? You shouldn't be so stupid as to get into a truck like that. The very best thing of all would be for them to stay home. They say the world is crushed [by this news]... I am not mourning them, I'm not sorry for them... Not at all! This element doesn't belong here, they are filth and scum."  full story

Police across Central and Eastern Europe investigating online death threats against refugees

6.9.2015 21:09 News server Wyborcza.pl reports that the Polish Prosecutor-General will be investigating the hateful commentary targeting migrants now turning up in Internet discussion forums. The authors of some posts are proposing, for example, that Syrian refugees all be sent to the former Nazi death camp at Auschwitz.  full story

Hungary: Football hooligans assault and injure refugees at Budapest train station

5.9.2015 21:44 News server SME.sk reports that last night and in the early hours of this morning Hungarian football hooligans assaulted refugees camping at Budapest's Keleti train station. The hooligans injured several people and two refugees were hospitalized.  full story

Former Czech President Klaus launches new petition against immigration

5.9.2015 20:50 Former Czech President Klaus has initiated a new petition against immigration. The document, which he presented today at a briefing at the exhibition grounds in the town of Lysá nad Labem, calls on the Czech Government to ensure national security and the external inviolability of the state's borders by any means necessary, including deployment of the Army and Police.  full story

First RomaVersitas Summit now underway and broadcast online

4.9.2015 23:50 The Roma Education Fund's RomaVersitas summit began yesterday in Budapest and ends tomorrow. Approximately 60 Romaversitas students from Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova and Serbia, countries where REF supports RomaVersitas Student Centers, are participating in the three-day summit.  full story

Czech counter-intelligence says number of anti-Romani events fell in 2014, extremists agitating against Islam instead

4.9.2015 22:23 Last year right-wing extremists in the Czech Republic focused on anti-Islamic themes instead of on anti-Romani invective. The radical scene there continues to be fragmented.  full story

European Roma and Travellers Forum calls summer demolitions of Romani dwellings "unprecedented"

3.9.2015 22:03 The European Roma and Travellers Forum has released a statement called "Evictions Unlimited" on what it calls an "unprecedented upsurge" in the demolition of Romani housing and eviction of Romani people both in EU Member States and in countries such as Albania. Whether the demolitions and evictions have involved the use of force or not, the ERTF says they have all been "marked by the policy of rejection".  full story

Czech Police stop marking refugees' arms after critics call it reminiscent of the Holocaust

3.9.2015 20:07 The Czech Aliens Police has been using markers to write identification numbers on the arms of refugees detained in Břeclav in a way that critics say recalls practices used during the Holocaust. "The published footage does not represent the standard procedure of the Czech Police, this procedure occurred due to the time pressure under which the police were at that moment, primarily because they did not want children to become separated from their parents in such a large group," the Czech Interior Ministry explained today.  full story

Slovak PM: We can't integrate "our own" Roma, to say nothing of refugees

2.9.2015 17:32 Czech news server Novinky.cz reports that on 29 August, during a speech commemorating the anniversary of the Slovak National Uprising, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said: "Europe is facing an uncontrolled influx of refugees from all over the world. European policy on migration has absolutely failed."  full story

Amnesty International petition against discrimination of Roma in Czech schools signed by 38 000

2.9.2015 16:40 A petition against the discrimination of Romani children in the Czech schools was signed by 38 334 people from 94 countries between April and August of this year. Amnesty International closed its online campaign yesterday by organizing a "happening" outside the Czech Education Ministry.  full story

Gifted Romani musician succeeding brilliantly in USA

1.9.2015 23:15 "In my career as a teacher of more than 20 000 students from 94 countries, Tomáš clearly belongs in the top 10," said Professor Pratt Bennet on 30 August when he was interviewed for the Czech Television program "168 Hours". Bennett teaches at the famous Berklee College of Music in Boston, which accepted Romani musician Tomáš Kačo from the Czech Republic last year.  full story

Austria: 20 000 demonstrate in support of receiving refugees

1.9.2015 19:26 The Austrian Press Agency reports that at least 20 000 people, according to Austrian Police estimates, gathered for a demonstration against the inhumane treatment of refugees yesterday in the center of Vienna. Approximately 450 police officers patrolled the marchers and the event took place without incident.  full story

Czech town's "zero tolerance" policy generates police abuse

1.9.2015 1:12 A reporter for news server Romea.cz is mapping the current situation at the Janov housing estate in the town of Litvínov. The estate is an excluded locality that experienced one of the first big anti-Romani actions organized in the Czech Republic by right-wing extremists seven years ago.  full story

Austrian Interior Minister: Countries that reject refugee redistribution should lose EU money

31.8.2015 20:04 Austrian Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner said today she is in favor of increasing the pressure on EU Member States that disagree with a fair redistribution of refugees among the EU-28. In an interview for ZDF, German public television, she said she would cut off financial aid to such countries if she could.  full story

Commentary: Czech media mock UN recommendations on racism and Roma

31.8.2015 1:24 The UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination issued its reports on the situation in several countries from around the world last week. The otherwise serious news server Aktuálně.cz reported the news with the headline "UN: Czechs should stop Romani ghettos, the Dutch should stop Black Pete", and I think that by so doing they quite knowingly indicated to the reader that all of the Committee's recommendations are to be seen as absurd.  full story

Hungary arrests five over refugee deaths, Austrian authorities save intercepted children

30.8.2015 23:06 A court in the Hungarian city of Kecskemét remanded four men into custody on 28 August who are suspected of having contributed to the deaths of the 71 refugees in a refrigerator truck that was discovered in eastern Austria last week. Agence France-Presse reports that those arrested will remain in custody until 29 September at the request of Hungarian prosecutors.  full story

Czech Constitutional Court says verdict in housing discrimination lawsuit must be reviewed

29.8.2015 2:30 The Czech Constitutional Court instructed the High Court in Prague on 14 August to review a lawsuit filed by a Romani couple against the town of Kladno and the Czech state over alleged discrimination in the allocation of housing. Originally the Regional Court in Prague awarded the plaintiffs an apology and CZK 40 000 (EUR 1500 ) from Kladno, especially because the property owner had never addressed the poor state of the couple's apartment.  full story

French authorities complete razing of Romani camp near Paris, not everyone rehoused

29.8.2015 1:08 Yesterday French authorities razed one of the largest Romani camps on the outskirts of Paris and police forced between 200 - 300 people to evacuate the site. The Associated Press reports that the local authority of the municipality of La Courneuve promised to provide substitute accommodation for the displaced, but only a few individuals received it, namely, mothers with children and persons with illnesses.  full story

Czech gathering commemorates 72 years since Roma prisoners transported from Hodonín to Auschwitz

29.8.2015 0:18 On Sunday, 23 August 2015, people gathered in Hodonín by Kunštát to commemorate 72 years since Romani inmates were transported from the concentration camp there to the death camp at Auschwitz. On that day 72 years ago the Nazis sent the largest transport of Romani prisoners from the so-called "Gypsy camp" to Auschwitz.  full story

Germany criticizes Facebook for fomenting xenophobia, says Europe is rich and can deal with refugees

28.8.2015 22:41 The Berlin-based daily Tagesspiegel reported yesterday that German Justice Minister Heiko Maas said Facebook is not acting strongly enough against users who disseminate hatred of refugees through the social networking site. Maas has contacted the leadership of Facebook's European division and wants to discuss rectifying the situation with them.  full story