Czech Republic

Czech Republic: 136 people detained during neo-Nazi protest, no one charged yet

České Budějovice, 7.7.2013 20:42, (ROMEA) Eight people were injured during clashes between anti-Roma demonstrators and police at the Máj housing estate in České Budějovice which did not end until late in the evening on 6 July. Police spokesperson Lenka Holická told the Czech News Agency that officers detained 136 people and have initiated criminal proceedings on suspicion of violence against a public official in six cases.  full story

Czech Police disperse unannounced demonstration against Roma, eight people injured

České Budějovice, 7.7.2013 3:10, (ROMEA) The Czech Police intervened at the Máj housing estate in České Budějovice on 6 July against the participants in an anti-Roma demonstration. Ivana Kerslesová, spokesperson for the České Budějovice Hospital, says eight people, two of them police officers, have been injured.  full story

Czech Republic: More than 100 arrests in today's violence

České Budějovice, 6.7.2013 22:36, (ROMEA) Czech Police arrested more than 100 people today in České Budějovice as the result of today's neo-Nazi violence.  full story

Czech Republic: Families on Přednádraží Street in Ostrava prepare to leave

Ostrava, 5.7.2013 18:58, (ROMEA) The last families living in the sole occupied building in the ghetto on Přednádraží Street in Ostrava, number 8, are preparing to move out. They have given up on their year-long fight to preserve the locality.  full story

Czech Police President: Minimizing any actual incidents of ethnic intolerance or racism is completely unacceptable

Prague, 5.7.2013 1:20, (ROMEA) Almost 30 NGOs and individuals called on Czech Police President Martin Červíček on 4 July to distance himself from the statement made by South Bohemian Regional Police Director Radomír Heřman at a press conference on 1 July in České Budějovice in which he said the racists at a recent demonstration who chanted "black swine" on the main square there were referring to police officers, not to Romani people. The organizations said they believed Heřman's remarks essentially defended the chanting racists.  full story

Czech organizations call on police president to reject regional director's minimizing of racist incident

Prague, 4.7.2013 18:23, (ROMEA) A total of 28 organizations and individuals have called on Czech Police President Martin Červíček to clearly distance himself from and reject the statement made by South Bohemian Regional Police Director Radomír Heřman at a press conference on 1 July in České Budějovice in which he defended the racists who recently chanted "black swine" on the main square there. Heřman claimed that phrase referred to police officers, not to Romani people.  full story

Roma Education Fund announces Roma International Scholar Program

Czech Republic, 4.7.2013 11:55, (ROMEA) Roma Education Fund’s Scholarship Program (REF SP) announces the seventh year of the Roma International Scholar Program (RISP). The Program is designed to provide partial support to Roma students who are citizens of one of the following countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Turkey, and Ukraine, for pursuing Bachelor, Master, Doctorate, or Postdoctoral education outside their home country or country of residence.  full story

Czech Republic: More police to patrol Máj housing estate

České Budějovice, 3.7.2013 23:36, (ROMEA) The number of municipal and state police deployed to the Máj housing estate in České Budějovice, home to a large Romani community, will be increased after last Saturday's attempt at a pogrom there. Mayor Juraj Thoma (Citizens for Budějovice - OPB) informed journalists of the increase after today's extraordinary session of the municipal council.  full story

Czech political scientist: "People feel the extremists are the only ones interested in them"

Prague, 3.7.2013 22:52, (ROMEA) Miroslav Mareš, a political scientist and specialist on extremism, says that government inaction and failure to resolve the security situation is responsible for the current anti-Romani demonstrations in České Budějovice and other towns throughout the Czech Republic. "People feel the extremists are the only ones interested in them," Mareš told the on-line daily TÝDEN.CZ. News server Romea.cz presents that interview in full translation:  full story

Former Czech PM suggests roundtable with parliamentary parties and Roma representatives

Prague, 3.7.2013 22:01, (ROMEA) Former Czech PM Jiří Paroubek, now the chair of the National Socialist - 21st Century Left party (Národní socialisté – levice 21. století or NS LEV21) has called on politicians to start finally resolving the problem of coexistence between Czechs and Roma together with representatives of the Romani community. "Another weekend of anti-Romani protests and clashes with police indicates there are enormous tensions in Czech society," Paroubek said of the recent attempted pogrom against Romani people in České Budějovice.  full story

Commentary: Why does the phrase "white aggressor" bother readers?

Prague, 2.7.2013 15:58, (ROMEA) Recently, in many articles published by Czech media outlets across the spectrum, we see the following expressions being used more and more often: "Romani aggressor" or the plural "Romani aggressors", "Romani racist aggressors", "brutal Romani gang", "violent Romani man", "a group of aggressors (Romani, of course)", "six aggressors (Romani)". The neo-Nazis Dufek and Svoboda, who organized demonstrations not long ago in Duchcov against Romani people (all of them), used the slogan: "Against the Romani aggressors".  full story

Czech Police: Demonstrators meant us when they chanted "black swine"

České Budějovice, 2.7.2013 5:10, (ROMEA) Radomír Heřman, the director of the South Bohemian Regional Police, held a press conference on 1 July 2013 regarding the police intervention required on 29 June when a demonstration spun out of control and turned into an attempted pogrom against Romani people in České Budějovice. Heřman seemingly took up the role of attorney for the racists who gathered there last Saturday, claiming that what they had been shouting had no racist subtext.  full story

Czech Republic: Local government, state police harshly criticized over anti-Romani demonstration

České Budějovice, 1.7.2013 23:39, (ROMEA) The leadership of the South Bohemian Regional Police is claiming to have managed last Saturday's intervention against the street battles at the Máj housing estate in České Budějovice well. Local government is also convinced that it did the same.  full story

Czech Senator Okamura: Let's "democratically" send the Roma to India

Prague, 1.7.2013 17:59, (ROMEA) The online magazine Česká pozice (Czech Position) published the following commentary on 28 June, which news server Romea.cz presents here in full translation:  full story

Injury count rises to 10 in České Budějovice, mayor says his hands were tied

České Budějovice, 29.6.2013 23:11, (ROMEA) After 20:00 CET on 29 June, neo-Nazi demonstrators on the streets of the Máj housing estate in České Budějovice (see http://www.romea.cz/cz/zpravodajstvi/domaci/na-ceskobudejovickem-sidlisti-maj-se-shromazdilo-zhruba-200-prevazne-romu) continued rioting on Václav Volf Street, where they did their best to provoke conflict with local Romani residents. Police began pushing the provocateurs out of the area shortly after 21:00.  full story

videoCzech Republic: Neo-Nazis attempt pogrom on Roma, commit arson, nine injured, 28 arrests

České Budějovice, 29.6.2013 20:19, (ROMEA) Roughly 200 people, most of them Romani, gathered after 13:00 CET today at the Máj housing estate in České Budějovice where the assembly and cultural program "Čikhatar Het/Z bahna ven II" ("Out of the Mud II") was held by the Konexe civic association together with the local Romani community. The gathering was in response to an anti-Romani demonstration that started at 16:00 CET on Přemysl Otakar II Square and was attended by about 500 people.  full story

Statewide Association of Romani People in the Czech Republic: New PM should revive Human Rights Minister post

Prague, 28.6.2013 23:14, (ROMEA) The Statewide Association of Romani People in the Czech Republic has sent the editors of news server Romea.cz an open letter calling on Jiří Rusnok, who has been appointed Prime Minister by Czech President Miloš Zeman, to revive the post of Human Rights Minister. News server Romea.cz publishes the text of that letter below in full translation:  full story

Czech Republic: Čikhatar Het II to run in České Budějovice alongside anti-Romani assembly

České Budějovice, 28.6.2013 22:31, (ROMEA) České Budějovice is readying for assemblies that will take place tomorrow on Přemysl Otakar II Square and at the Máj housing estate. Both gatherings are in response to an incident during which children, their parents and then unrelated adults got into conflict with one another a local playground.  full story

Czech Republic: Suspended sentences for 2011 attack on Roma

Prague, 28.6.2013 2:26, (ROMEA) Of the five aggressive youths who brutally beat up two Romani people in Prague two years ago, three have been given suspended sentences and two will not be punished for their involvement at all. The victims were provided legal aid by the In IUSTITIA association, and without their involvement the case might never have even made it before a court, since police downplayed the severity of the assault from the beginning.  full story

Survey finds Czech Republic worst for ethnic discrimination on the housing market

Prague/Ústí nad Labem, 27.6.2013 17:42, (ROMEA) In May and June 2013, a survey was conducted in five European countries to map the opportunities available to various marginalized population groups when seeking housing. As the country with the highest level of discrimination in the rental housing market on the basis of prospective tenants' membership in the Romani minority, the Czech Republic came out the worst of all the countries surveyed.  full story