Czech Republic

Czech Republic: No Romani candidates seated, populist Dawn (Úsvit) gets 7 % of the vote

Czech Republic, 27.10.2013 2:55, (ROMEA) The elections to the Czech lower house have once again been won by the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) by the smallest of margins, just as they were three years ago. This year the second-place finish went to the ANO 2011 party instead of the Civic Democrats (ODS), who have now lost almost four-fifths of their MPs.  full story

The long road of active resistance to racist marches in the Czech Republic

Prague, 27.10.2013 2:50, (ROMEA) The anti-Romani marches in the Czech Republic were the winning subject in the "News" category of this year's World Press Photo competition here. More than 30 such marches have been held around the entire country this year.  full story

Czech elections: Social Democrats gain only slight lead over ANO 2011

Czech Republic, 26.10.2013 19:10, (ROMEA) The elections to the lower house have once again been won by the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) with only a slight margin of victory, just like the elections of three years ago. The ANO 2011 political movement ended up closely behind the ČSSD.  full story

Czech Republic: Neo-Nazis to march on state holiday Monday

Plzeň, 26.10.2013 18:45, (ROMEA) Neo-Nazis are scheduled to march through several towns in the Czech Republic on the state holiday Monday, including Ostrava and Plzeň, where they are expected to march through the Bory quarter. Plzeň Police spokesperson Jana Tomková told the Czech News Agency yesterday that police are preparing security measures involving the Aliens' Police, an anti-conflict team, canine units, criminal investigators, riot police and traffic police.  full story

Czech elections to the lower house underway

Czech Republic, 26.10.2013 3:07, (ROMEA) Elections to the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic began Friday 25 October. Polls opened at 14:00 and closed at 22:00. Voting will also take place on Saturday 26 October from 8:00 to 14:00.  full story

Czech Republic: Perpetrators of machete attack get up to 17.5 years

Prague, 26.10.2013 0:16, (ROMEA) Vojtěch Husák has been convicted of perpetrating an attack with a machete in Nový Bor in 2011 and will spend 17.5 years in prison, while his accomplices Antonín Sinu and Jakub Žiga will spend 15 years in prison each. The High Court in Prague handed down its verdict Friday 24 October and it has taken effect.  full story

Štefan Tišer (SRP), Romani candidate to the Czech lower house: We have a good chance of getting in

Prague, 24.10.2013 22:36, (ROMEA) An unusually high number of Romani people are running in this year's early elections compared to years past. The monthly Romano voďi, published by the ROMEA association, has done its best to interview all the candidates running for the lower house and will run those interviews in addition to publishing analytical material about the elections.  full story

Stanislav Tišer (SRP), Romani candidate to Czech lower house: I want a change of government

Prague, 24.10.2013 17:47, (ROMEA) An unusually high number of Romani people are running in this year's early elections compared to years past. The monthly Romano voďi, published by the ROMEA association, has done its best to interview all the candidates running for the lower house and will run those interviews in addition to publishing analytical material about the elections.  full story

Czech Senate committee objects to EU recommendations on Roma integration

Prague, 23.10.2013 23:20, (ROMEA) The Czech Senate is refusing to introduce any social measures based on ethnicity into Czech law, claiming that neither the constitutional order nor the Czech Republic's international obligations make it possible for the state to define the recipients of social assistance according to their ethnic affiliation. That refusal is part of recommendations recently agreed to by the Senate EU Affairs Committee, which has just reviewed recommendations from the Council of the EU regarding effective Roma integration measures.  full story

Center for Romani Studies: Most Czechs do not consider Roma a natural part of society

Rokycany, 23.10.2013 1:59, (ROMEA) The Center for Romani Studies (Středisko romských studií - SRS) has produced a report summarizing its current findings in the field of Romani issues. The aim of the report is to raise the topic of antigypsyism and its impacts on the security of Romani people in the Czech Republic.  full story

Czech Republic: Right-wing extremist threatens to kill Mayor of Ostrava

Ostrava, 23.10.2013 0:29, (ROMEA) News server iDNES.cz reports that a man demanding the release of 15 aggressive demonstrators who participated in last Saturday's neo-Nazi demonstration in Ostrava has threatened to murder the Mayor of Ostrava and his family. It did not take long for police to take him into custody, where he remains.  full story

Czech Republic: "Colorful Ostrava" to counter-demonstrate against neo-Nazis on state holiday

Ostrava, 22.10.2013 21:54, (ROMEA) On Monday 28 October 2013 there won't just be a neo-Nazi event in Ostrava, but also an assembly called "Colorful Ostrava" (Barevná Ostrava). The event will begin at 14:00 CET on Svatopluk Čech Square in the Přívoz quarter of Ostrava, which is a frequent target of neo-Nazi violence  full story

Horáčková (SRP), Romani candidate to Czech lower house: We must organize resistance to racism

Prague, 22.10.2013 21:02, (ROMEA) An unusually high number of Romani people are running in this year's early elections compared to years past. The monthly Romano voďi, published by the ROMEA association, has done its best to interview all the candidates running for the lower house and will run those interviews in addition to publishing analytical material about the elections.  full story

Czech Republic: Many neo-Nazis running for the DSSS again

Czech Republic, 22.10.2013 3:01, (ROMEA) The Workers' Social Justice Party (Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti - DSSS) has suffered in recent years from disputes with the rest of the ultra-right scene and numerous internal problems. Those problems have resulted in the entire North Bohemian cell leaving the party together with key figures Petr Kotáb and Lucie Šlégrová.  full story

Czech Bishops, Ecumenical Council and Jewish Federation warn of rising right-wing extremism

Prague, 22.10.2013 1:56, (ROMEA) Representatives of several churches and religious societies are warning of rising right-wing extremism in the Czech Republic. The religious representatives are asking the public not to support those who offer measures based on nationalism or racism as the solution to solving problems in coexistence between the majority society and Romani people.  full story

Commentary: In the Czech Republic, the Roma's image could get them killed

Prague, 21.10.2013 16:38, (ROMEA) This past spring the third - and so far the greatest - wave of anti-Romani protests has risen up in the Czech Republic. The first such wave, from 2007-2009, resulted in what was the most serious arson attack to date on a Romani family here in the town of Vítkov, and in the arrest of the perpetrators in August 2009. The second such wave, from 2011-2012, ended with a march by 2 000 people through the town of Břeclav, where locals and out-of-towners passionately protested an alleged attack by Romani people on a 15-year-old boy. One month later, it was proven that he had invented the entire story.  full story

Romani author Emil Cina has passed away

Prague, 20.10.2013 19:45, (ROMEA) On Sunday, 20 October 2013, Emil Cina, one of the most significant Romani authors and nation-builders, passed away at the age of 65.  full story

Czech Republic: Civil trial opens over compensation for brutalized Romani family

Plzeň, 19.10.2013 19:52, (ROMEA) On 16 October the civil trial began in Plzeň in the case of compensation for a brutal attack on a Romani family in Nýrsko in 2011. Last year a criminal court in Klatovy gave defendants Václav Boublík and Jiří Miškovič suspended sentences for their roles in the incident.  full story

Czech Republic: Racists riot against Roma in Ostrava once more

Ostrava, 19.10.2013 18:32, (ROMEA) In the center of Ostrava more than 300 people gathered this afternoon for an anti-Romani demonstration. The demonstrators then marched on the Romani neighborhood of Přívoz.  full story

Commentary: DSSS "keeping order on the streets" in Duchcov

Duchcov, 19.10.2013 0:53, (ROMEA) Convicted criminals and Nazis are maintaining order on the streets of a town. That sentence sounds like it describes 1930s Germany, but it is neither the first nor the last parallel that can be drawn between today, the interwar era, and the course of daily life during both totalitarian periods in Central Europe.  full story