News

Commentary: Czech Police not living up to their motto

20.7.2015 18:26 Even though I have long had no illusions about how that notorious motto of the Czech Police, "To assist and protect", can sometimes work in practice, during Saturday's demonstrations on Wenceslas Square I could not believe my eyes. Honor is of course due to the officers who kept the enraged, fanatical neo-Nazis away from the people expressing solidarity with refugees that evening (which is, after all, their job), but I would like to discuss my experience with those of their colleagues who did not lift a finger when I directly asked them for assistance.  full story

Palestinian and Romani hiphop artists: "Rap is the CNN of ordinary people"

20.7.2015 2:46 Three weeks ago the "Days of Jerusalem" festival was held in the Czech cities of Prague and Plzeň, an event which for several years has presented the culture of this divided Middle Eastern City. Organizers included an appearance by Palestinian rapper Muhammad Mughrabi on this year's rich program.  full story

Czech Republic: Anti-immigration protesters set EU flags on fire

19.7.2015 21:39 Yesterday right-wing extremists backing organizer Adam B. Bartoš marched on the Office of the Government in Prague after 19:00 chanting "Traitors!". The building was guarded by police and metal barricades as the radicals gave speeches.  full story

Czech Interior Minister: Islamophobic populists using same methods as ultra-right

19.7.2015 4:16 The Czech Interior Ministry anticipates that anti-immigration and populist Islamophobic organizations will increase their activities and that their themes will be more actively taken up by "traditional right-wing extremists". The ministry's predictions are part of its report on the development of extremism during the second quarter of this year.  full story

European Roma Information Office publishes fact sheet on anti-Roma hate speech in European media

19.7.2015 3:29 The European Roma Information Office, a Brussels-based international advocacy organization promoting discussion of Romani issues, has published a fact sheet to raise awareness about hate speech against Romani people in the European media. The fact sheet defines hate speech against Roma as any public conduct that "wilfully expresses intense hostility towards Roma on the basis of their ethnicity".  full story

Czech Police audit says officers proceeded correctly at demonstration with mock-ups of gallows

19.7.2015 2:43 Police officers on duty during the 1 July demonstration against immigration in Prague did not make a mistake when they took no action against demonstrators carrying mock-ups of gallows. Yesterday Czech Police spokesperson Tomáš Hulan confirmed to the Czech News Agency that an investigation by the Regional Police Internal Affairs Department has absolved the officers.  full story

Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner: Romani migrants' rights are being violated

18.7.2015 23:00 Nils Muiznieks, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, published a commentary on 16 July calling for myths about Romani migration in Europe to be debunked. In the commentary, Muiznieks asserts that media in Germany, Italy, Switzerland and the UK have "often put forward unfounded figures about actual or potential arrivals of Roma."  full story

Czech Republic: Only minor incidents at today's competing protests over immigration

18.7.2015 22:16 In the center of Prague on Wenceslas Square today there were different events organized by those opposed to immigration and by those expressing solidarity with refugees. The most dramatic situation occurred at around 19:00 at the bottom of the Square.  full story

Czech Human Rights Minister: We do not want the fascisization of society

18.7.2015 21:06 Today in Prague two demonstrations are underway by those opposed to receiving refugees in the Czech Republic. At 15:00 an assembly began at the statue of St. Václav and at 17:00 a "People's Camp" of right-wing extremists began demanding the immediate closure of the borders and the withdrawal of the Czech Republic from the EU.  full story

European Court of Justice finds Czech utility discriminates against Roma in Bulgaria

18.7.2015 19:32 Deutsche Presse-Agentur reports that yesterday the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg ruled that the decision by the Bulgarian division of the Czech power company ČEZ to install electricity meters in the predominantly Romani-occupied quarter of the town of Dupnica at a greater height than in other parts of town constitutes discrimination. ČEZ spokesperson Barbora Půlpánová, however, told the Czech News Agency that the meters were installed prior to ČEZ entering the Bulgarian market.  full story

Czech Republic: NGO starts risky recording studio on edge of Romani ghetto

18.7.2015 18:00 On the border between Brno's Romani ghetto and the "normal" city center, a recording studio full of energy and symbolism is slated to begin growing on the premises of a former gaming room. "There are other ways to play" is one of the slogans accompanying the studio's vision.  full story

Czech capital won't allow second demonstration against xenophobia because of timing clash with anti-immigrant event

16.7.2015 23:24 The City of Prague has refused permission to a second assembly in support of receiving refugees announced for this Saturday on Wenceslas Square. The space requested had previously been reserved.  full story

Commentary: A hijacked ceremony and the moral power of the Mothers of Srebrenica

16.7.2015 19:24 When Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić set out last Saturday for the ceremony commemorating the 20th anniversary of the genocide near the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica, he probably did not expect to be received with applause, but he probably did not suspect he would have to quickly leave the memorial to the victims at the former UN base in Srebrenica-Potočari in a stampede under a hail of curses, plastic bottles and rocks. On a day that was supposed to honor the memory of the more than 8 000 ethnic Muslims massacred by Bosnian Serbian military units in July 1995 near Srebrenic the victims instead became yet again a target of hypocritical political games at truth and reconciliation.  full story

Germany: Arsonists set another refugee facility on fire, shooting also reported

16.7.2015 18:09 Deutsche Presse-Agentur reports that unidentified arsonists in Germany have set yet another building on fire that had been prepared to accommodate refugees. Last night arsonists attacked the still-empty complex in the Bavarian town of Reichertshofen.
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Slovakia: Romani pharmacy student attacked, her father claims it was racism

16.7.2015 16:00 An unidentified assailant used a wooden stick to attack Tereza Berkyová, a young Romani woman who is a gifted violinist and pharmacy student, after she performed with a folklore ensemble at a festival last weekend in the town of Detva. Her father told the Slovak TV station Markíza that he believes the attack was racially motivated.  full story

Czech Republic: HateFree Culture project refutes online hoaxes about refugees

15.7.2015 16:33 HateFree Culture, a project that is part of the Czech Government's campaign against hate violence and racism, has issued the following press release:  full story

Slovak ombud says police raid on Roma settlement was unnecessary

15.7.2015 0:29 The SITA agency reports that the Slovak Public Defender of Rights (the ombud), Jana Dubovcová, says the police raid on the village of Vrbnica in Slovakia this past April was not necessary and should never have happened. She has completed her investigation of the intervention.  full story

Czech Republic's Wenceslas Square to see three protests on the immigration issue this Saturday

14.7.2015 23:08 Those opposed to receiving refugees in the Czech Republic are heading for the center of Prague this Saturday, as are those who want to express solidarity with immigrants. There will be three separate events at various places along Wenceslas Square during the afternoon of the 18th.  full story

Czech trial of priest accused of sexually molesting Romani children to resume next month

14.7.2015 22:09 On 15 June the trial began at the Přerov District Court of Catholic priest Vladimír Krejsa on charges of sexually molesting children in Přerov. The 64-year-old clergyman from the Přerov area, who is retired and no longer working as a priest, used to visit a Romani community in a troubled locality near the train station.  full story

MEP and OSCE/ODIHR call for evictions of Roma to end in Bulgaria

14.7.2015 19:01 Michael Georg Link, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), called on Bulgarian authorities yesterday to immediately address inter-ethnic tension and halt evictions in Roma communities. On 29 June, Romani families were forcefully evicted from their homes in the municipality of Garmen.  full story