Czech Republic

Czech Republic: Neo-Nazis plan anti-Roma event for 19 October in Ostrava

Ostrava, 10.10.2013 17:53, (ROMEA) Yet another anti-Roma event by right-wing radicals will take place in Ostrava on 19 October. The protest, following by a march through the town, was originally announced as beginning at the town hall, which is having its open house on that day.  full story

Czech Green Party: Romani volunteers helping campaign in the streets

Prague, 8.10.2013 23:14, (ROMEA) Hundreds of volunteers with the Green Party (Strana zelených - SZ) have taken to the streets of towns across the Czech Republic to familiarize voters with the party's program and introduce the Greens as a good choice for the October elections. Volunteers include the leaders of the SZ candidate lists, famous personalities, and citizens who want to support the Greens and joined the voter turnout project at www.kampanjstevy.cz.  full story

Czech Green Party candidate says more Roma interest in politics can fuel change

Pardubice, 8.10.2013 20:52, (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: Neo-Nazis now at upscale addresses in Brno

Prague, 8.10.2013 17:29, (ROMEA) After several recent successes by antifascists in the city of Brno it might seem the struggle against neo-Nazis has been symbolically won there. In reality the neo-Nazis remain active in the Czech Republic's second-largest city and can be found at rather upscale addresses.  full story

Romea.cz reports Facebook group "Gypsies to the Gas Chambers", Facebook sees no problem

Prague, 7.10.2013 17:57, (ROMEA) The Czech administrators of the Facebook social networking site must really like racism. How else can their refusal to close a group named "Gypsies to the Gas Chambers" ("Cíkáni do plynu") be explained?  full story

videoCzech Republic: Roma Pride 2013 marches through Prague

Prague, 6.10.2013 20:48, (ROMEA) Approximately 300 people participated in the Roma Pride 2013 march today in Prague. The parade set out from the Old Town Square at around 13:00 for Prague Castle.  full story

Czech fact-checkers find untruth in interview with Romani party chair

Prague, 5.10.2013 18:38, (ROMEA) Miroslav Tancoš, the chair of the Romani Democratic Party (Romská demokratická strana - RDS), was recently featured in the Czech Television program "Interview with Daniela Drtinová" (Interview Daniely Drtinové). Tancoš presented the party's plans for the upcoming elections, in which it is fielding candidates in only a few regions.  full story

Czech Republic: Town approves fence around privatized ghetto locality as investor fails to deliver

Přerov, 5.10.2013 3:08, (ROMEA) A locality on Škodova Street in the Czech town of Přerov over which local government is involved in a lawsuit with property owners will soon be fenced off. The town council has agreed to the measure with the bankruptcy administrator for the firm that owns the property.  full story

Czech political parties agree pig farm on Roma Holocaust site should be removed

Prague, 5.10.2013 0:24, (ROMEA) The topic of journalist Martin Veselovský's fourth election special for Czech Radio on news server Rozhlas.cz was racism and relations toward minorities in the Czech Republic. Among the topics that were discussed was the possible removal of the pig farm located on the site of the former concentration camp for Romani people at Lety by Písek.  full story

Open letter to Czech Television: Talk show features anti-Roma bias, racist untruths

Prague, 4.10.2013 22:17, (ROMEA) A complaint has been sent to the board of Czech Television about Michaela Jílková, the moderator of its talk show program "Máte slovo" ("You Have the Floor"), specifically concerning a recent episode on the topic of Romani people and ultra-right extremism. The open letter points to her lack of professionalism, her inability to become better acquainted with the topics her program covers, and the biased shift against Romani people that she caused in a recent discussion through her inability to perform her role as moderator without sensationalizing the topic at hand.  full story

Czech Republic: Radicalization of Romani people increasing

Ostrava/Ústí nad Labem, 4.10.2013 17:19, (ROMEA) For some time now we have been observing that in several localities throughout the Czech Republic some Romani people, adolescents or young men in particular, have been radicalizing. Footage taken of the anti-Romani demonstrations earlier this year in České Budějovice shows us that the possibility of being filmed, either with a mobile device or video cameras, did not deter some Roma from responding to racist provocations there with violence.  full story

Platform for Social Housing critiques Czech Govt plans to institutionalize residential hotels

Prague, 4.10.2013 0:10, (ROMEA) The Platform for Social Housing has sent the Czech Regional Development Ministry (MMR) its comments and suggestions regarding the Government's draft Comprehensive Social Housing Policy (Komplexní řešení sociálního bydlení). According to the Government's Housing Concept 2020 (Koncepce bydlení do roku 2020), the Labor and Social Affairs Ministry and the MMR are supposed to produce a comprehensive policy on housing by the end of this year.  full story

Czech Republic: Neo-Nazis hack e-mail and Facebook accounts of anti-racist activists and candidates

Prague, 3.10.2013 22:09, (ROMEA) Approximately 10 racist images, texts, and videos were posted today by neo-Nazis onto the Facebook profile of the Změna ("Change") movement, which is running in the parliamentary elections. The attack was just the latest in a series committed by racists against the e-mail accounts and Facebook profiles of groups and individuals who have long protested against neo-Nazism and racism in the Czech Republic.  full story

Czech elections 2013: Green Party gets number 23 for early elections, runs nine Romani candidates

Prague, 2.10.2013 17:56, (ROMEA) The political parties have been given their voting numbers. The Green Party is running nine Romani candidates and has been given the number 23 for this year's elections to the lower house.  full story

Roma Pride 2013 marches through Prague this Sunday

Prague, 2.10.2013 17:17, (ROMEA) Roma Pride 2013 will take place this Sunday, 6 October 2013 in Prague and 13 other European cities. Romani people and their friends will march through the historic center of Prague from the Old Town Square to Prague Castle.  full story

Czech Republic: Brutal assault began with words "why are you talking to a Gypsy?"

Bystřice pod Hostýnem, 1.10.2013 17:48, (ROMEA) A brutal assault was perpetrated this summer on a 45-year-old man who stood up for a friend of his in a bar in Bystřice pod Hostýnem. All three nationwide television stations (Czech Television, TV Nova and TV Prima) have reported on the incident.  full story

Analysis: Police in Ostrava intentionally failed to protect anti-racist demonstration

Prague, 1.10.2013 2:27, (ROMEA) I set out for Ostrava last Thursday and stayed there until early Saturday evening. On Thursday the 11th annual "Stop Drugs!" event for children and youth was convened by the Life Together association's community center in Hrušov, and the children there spent a pleasant afternoon of contests, dancing, games and songs, a special event in the stereotypical life of the ghetto.  full story

Analysis: Weekend surge of anti-Roma hatred in the Czech Republic part of larger cycle

Prague, 30.9.2013 17:55, (ROMEA) The "Let's Block the Marches!" (Blokujeme!) platform, of which the Konexe association is a proud member, has just made it through yet another busy weekend. Together we have stood up to demonstrations aiming to spark hatred in four towns - on Friday in Ostrava, and on Saturday (St. Wenceslas Day) in Krupka, Prague and Vítkov - suffering one defeat, one draw and two overwhelming victories.  full story

Russian Embassy in Prague surrounded by 1 000 Pussy Riot supporters

Prague, 29.9.2013 20:38, (ROMEA) Roughly 1 000 supporters of the imprisoned members of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot, as well as promoters of techno music, gathered yesterday in front of the Russian Embassy in Prague for a street party under the slogan "St. Wenceslas, expel the capitalists and fascists!" According to organizers, the slogan refers to the Pussy Riot song that cost the band their imprisonment.  full story

videoCzech Republic: Three simultaneous neo-Nazi demonstrations in Krupka, Prague and Vítkov

Praha/Krupka/Vítkov, 28.9.2013 21:19, (ROMEA) Approximately 100 right-wing extremists participated in a demonstration on St. Wenceslas Day that was convened by neo-Nazis in Prague. Small groups of ultra-right radicals gathered in the lower section of Wenceslas Square before marching to the Edvard Beneš embankment of the Vltava river.  full story