Czech Republic

Czech Republic: More than 100 people demand investigation of social work in Litvínov

Czech Republic, 23.9.2013 17:25, (ROMEA) Members of the social welfare department of the Czech town of Litvínov, accompanied by municipal police and a reporter with a video camera, recently paid unannounced visits to allegedly troubled families, primarily Romani ones, to see whether adult family members were using alcohol or drugs in the presence of their children. Zuzana Candigliota, legal director of the League of Human Rights (Liga lidských práv) says the staff of these public authorities exceeded their official powers during the incidents.  full story

"Czech Lions" experience yet another debacle - march in Přerov cancelled for lack of interest

Přerov, 21.9.2013 20:18, (ROMEA) Approximately 40 neo-Nazis gathered today for an anti-Romani assembly convened by right-wing extremists from the "Czech Lions" (Čeští lvi) organization on T. G. Masaryk Square in the town of Přerov. The organizer cancelled the planned march 40 minutes into the gathering because of low turnout.  full story

Czech Republic: Ultra-right extremists now candidates for the "Heads Up!" bloc

Prague, 21.9.2013 18:34, (ROMEA) The "Heads Up!" (Hlava vzhůru!) bloc is running in the Czech Republic's early elections with the slogan "We fight for you!", but a more apt slogan for the group might be "We pick fights with you". Two right-wing extremists are among its candidates, as is a politician infamous for her previous racist remarks.  full story

Czech Republic: Neo-Nazis to march in Přerov, "Let's Block the Marches!" announces counter-action

Přerov, 19.9.2013 20:47, (ROMEA) Right-wing extremists are planning to visit Přerov for an officially announced demonstration including a two-kilometer march through the town this Saturday. The route will lead past Romani localities.  full story

Czech Republic: Racists spread false statistics about Roma, implying they are official

Prague, 17.9.2013 23:33, (ROMEA) The Sociological Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (Sociologický ústav AV ČR, v.v.i.) is distancing itself from the falsified data about the Romani population in the Czech Republic now being spread through blogs and other media outlets. The data concerned did not originate with the Sociological Institute, nor was it produced by any other governmental or research organization in the Czech Republic.  full story

Czech Green Party chair: All of society must collaborate on building the road out of the ghetto

17.9.2013 22:25, (ROMEA) During the launch of the Green Party's electoral campaign, news server Romea.cz spoke with Green Party chair Ondřej Liška. Human rights considerations, according to Liška, play only a weak role in Czech politics.  full story

Czech sociologist hopes "war of nerves" before elections does not result in violence

Prague, 17.9.2013 0:28, (ROMEA) In the context of the upcoming early elections, increased activity by the right-wing extremist DSSS party and the exploitation of Romani-related issues can be expected in the Czech Republic. The series of organized anti-Roma demonstrations in recent weeks has made it clear how DSSS chair Tomáš Vandas and his promoters will most likely behave going forward.  full story

Czech Republic: Litvínov police and social workers cause scandal

Litvínov, 16.9.2013 23:26, (ROMEA) The Litvínov social welfare department, accompanied by municipal police and a reporter with a video camera, has been cracking down on allegedly troubled families, most of them Romani, to determine whether they have been using alcohol or taking drugs in the presence of their children. According to Zuzana Candigliota, the legal director of the League of Human Rights (Liga lidských práv), the municipal police and social welfare department staffs have exceeded their powers.  full story

Czech human rights defender calls for media regulation in light of anti-Roma events

16.9.2013 21:26, (ROMEA) Anna Šabatová, a human rights defender and former chair of the Czech Helsinki Committee, says educating children in the schools to be racially tolerant and regulating the media and public discussions are the cure for widespread anti-Romani sentiment in society. The Czech Security Information Service (Bezpečnostní informační služba - BIS) has recently joined the Czech Helsinki Committee in warning of the dangers of antigypsyism in the country, reporting that anti-Romani demonstrations are no longer being attended just by right-wing extremists, but also by ordinary people.  full story

Czech Republic: Nine Romani men and women running for or with Green Party in early parliamentary elections

Prague, 16.9.2013 17:15, (ROMEA) A total of nine Romani men and women will be running for the lower house in the early elections for the Green Party (Strana Zelených - SZ). Two are Green Party members, while the rest are running as part of the party's collaboration with the Equal Opportunities Party (Strana rovných příležitostí - SRP). News server Romea.cz will be gradually publishing a series of interviews with these particular candidates.  full story

Czech Republic: Racists' weekend demos are debacles

České Budějovice/Varnsdorf, 16.9.2013 1:13, (ROMEA) Two hate actions planned by racists in the Czech Republic for Saturday, 14 September have both ended in total fiasco. An assembly by the neo-Nazi "Czech Lions" (Čeští lvi) group never got off the ground in České Budějovice, while only 60 people turned out for a rally by the right-wing extremist DSSS in Varnsdorf.  full story

Czech Police to charge publisher for releasing Hitler's speeches

Brno, 14.9.2013 22:11, (ROMEA) The Czech Police are evidently planning to soon charge Pavel Kamas, the owner of the Guidemedia publishing house, with approving, denying and questioning genocide by recently releasing a book called Adolf Hitler: Speeches (Adolf Hitler: Projevy). Author Lukáš Beer and Guidemedia itself are also evidently going to be prosecuted for the same offense.  full story

Czech Republic: Charity refutes rumors that Romani people receive more child support from state than others

České Budějovice, 14.9.2013 19:54, (ROMEA) News server Deník.cz reports that the Diocesan Charity of České Budějovice (Diecézní charita České Budějovice) is refuting yet another widespread, false rumor about the alleged privileging of Romani people. Rudolf Kondáš, the newly-hired crime prevention assistant to the municipal police at the Máj housing estate there, says he hopes this summer's police operations at the housing estate in response to neo-Nazi provocations there will not have to be repeated.  full story

Czech Republic: Residential hotel tenants have no choice but to return to burned-out, toxic facility

Ústí nad Labem, 13.9.2013 18:36, (ROMEA) On the afternoon of 12 September, part of the Freedom residential hotel in the Krásné Březno quarter of Ústí nad Labem was burned to cinders. All of the occupants, approximately 40 people, had to evacuate the building.  full story

Czech NGO launches ad campaign about anti-Roma prejudice

Brno, 13.9.2013 16:16, (ROMEA) Starting on 9 September, people traveling by public transportation in the Czech city of Brno have been able to see 800 posters from an ongoing campaign by the Brno-based organization IQ Roma servis. The posters describe situations where Roma are working and want to work, but are blocked by the prejudices that give all Roma a bad reputation.  full story

Czech Gov't Council on Nat'l Minorities retracts 2012 report over claims of "Russian fifth column"

Prague, 13.9.2013 1:37, (ROMEA) The Czech News Agency reports that the cabinet has re-approved a report by the Government Council on National Minorities about the situation for national minorities in the Czech Republic in 2012. The report was first taken up and approved in mid-August, but was then retracted over information it contained about the Russian minority.  full story

Czech Journalists' Syndicate says news outlet broke the law on spreading racial hatred

Prague/Prostějov, 12.9.2013 18:36, (ROMEA) The governing body of the Journalists' Syndicate in the Czech Republic (Syndikát novinářů ČR) has passed a resolution declaring that an article recently published in the Prostějovský Večerník (Prostějov Evening News) entitled "Gypsy attacks are multiplying!" ("Cikánské útoky se množí!") not only contravenes the Syndicate's code of ethics but violates the law. News server Romea.cz was the first to report on the article and the overall behavior of the Prostějovský Večerník editors (see http://www.romea.cz/en/news/czech/analysis-czech-news-outlet-misleads-readers-by-mastering-photoshop).  full story

Interior Ministry not registering "Czech Lions", by law they are an "unpermitted association"

Prague, 11.9.2013 18:31, (ROMEA) The Czech Interior Ministry has refused to register the "Czech Lions" (Čeští lvi) association. "The articles of incorporation of this association do not comply with the Law on Associations," Břetislav Oliva of the ministry's Department of Press and Public Relations told news server Romea.cz.  full story

Czech Helsinki Committee: Neo-Nazi, ultra-conservative and fascististic fighters gear up for elections

Prague, 11.9.2013 16:49, (ROMEA) The Czech Helsinki Committee (Český helsinský výbor - ČHV), which monitors adherence to human rights in the Czech Republic, has published its 19th Report on the State of Human Rights in the Czech Republic. The ČHV is the only organization in the Czech Republic to publish this report regularly since 1994. The complete "Report on the State of Human Rights in the Czech Republic for 2012" (Zpráva o stavu lidských práv v České republice za rok 2012) is available online in Czech only at http://helcom.cz/ke-stazeni/zpravy-o-stavu-lidskych-prav-v-cr/.  full story

Leading Czech right-wing extremist acquitted for lack of evidence

Most, 11.9.2013 15:29, (ROMEA) News server Deník.cz reported last week that right-wing extremist Lucie Šlégrová, one of the organizers of an attempted pogrom in 2008 on Romani people living at the Janov housing estate in the Czech town of Litvínov, has won a complicated, lengthy trial at the court of first instance in Most. Šlégrová, who was once an influential member of the neo-Nazi Workers' Party (Dělnická strana - DS), which has since been dissolved by court order, faced charges of promoting German Nazism, which is banned.  full story