News

Czech Police use tear gas, arrest 57, mostly counter-protesters of neo-Nazi march in Brno

1.5.2015 19:27 The Czech News Agency reports that approximately 1 500 people gathered in Brno today to block a march by supporters of the Workers' Youth and Workers' Social Justice Party (DSSS) called "Europe, Rise Up" (Evropo povstaň). Conveners of the blockade say the Workers' Youth is evidently linked to neo-Nazi circles.  full story

Boxer Tyson Fury, proud of his Irish Traveller origin, has challenged Wladimir Klitschko

Great Britain, 1.5.2015 5:46 BBC.com reports that Tyson Fury, the British professional boxer who is the current EBU heavyweight champion and has embraced his Irish Traveller heritage, will be the next challenger to Wladimir Klitschko. Last Saturday night Klitschko reconfirmed his position as world champion, defending his heavyweight title.  full story

Most Czechs agree with accepting refugees from war

1.5.2015 5:04 People in the Czech Republic are more willing to accept refugees today according to a survey performed by the Median agency for Czech Radio. The survey found that 42 % of Czechs would accept some refugees in a spirit of solidarity.  full story

Austria still trying to decide what to do with Hitler's birthplace

Braunau am Inn, Austria, 1.5.2015 0:44 "It's the same circus here every year," mumbles a passer-by, glancing at the small assembly in front of the golden-yellow facade. Adolf Hitler still casts a shadow over his birthplace of Braunau am Inn even 70 years after his suicide on 30 April 1945.  full story

Czech Police charge six after nationwide raid against extremists, three now in custody

30.4.2015 23:45 A court has remanded into custody three of the six people charged by police in connection with their nationwide raid against extremism on Tuesday. Štěpánka Zenklová, the spokesperson for the State Prosecutor's office in Prague, which is supervising the maneuvers, told the Czech News Agency that she will not be able to provide details about the legal qualification of the crimes involved until the investigation is completed.  full story

Germany: Former concentration camp prisoner outrages co-accusers by shaking the hand of indicted former SS member

29.4.2015 17:37 During the trial of Oskar Gröning, a former volunteer with the SS who worked at the Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz, Eva Kor, a former prisoner, shook the indicted man's hand in a gesture of reconciliation. Yesterday the 49 other Holocaust victims who are Kor's co-accusers in the lawsuit against Gröning expressed their objections to her gesture.  full story

Czech Republic: Hundreds plan to block neo-Nazi march on 1 May in Brno

28.4.2015 16:52 Right-wing extremists from the Workers' Youth (Dělnická mládež - DM) group, which is linked to the Workers' Social Justice Party (DSSS) are planning to go to Brno for 1 May. The event, called "Europe, Rise Up" (Evropo povstaň) has been announced to the Brno-střed municipal department.  full story

UK tabloid columnist calls African refugees "cockroaches"

28.4.2015 0:45 UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein has charged the British tabloid The Sun with inciting hatred of immigrants. The daily published a column in which author Katie Hopkins compares African refugees to "cockroaches" and talks about them as "savages".  full story

Poll finds most Czechs disagree with all foreigners having the right to seek citizenship

28.4.2015 0:06 The openness of Czech people toward foreigners has reached an historic low. Almost three-quarters (73 %) of respondents disagree that every person living in the Czech Republic should have the right to apply for citizenship; last year only 67 % disagreed.  full story

Mattel causes uproar with use of term "Nazi Poland" in card game

27.4.2015 21:57 Poland has been outraged by the use of the phrase "Nazi Poland" in a popular card game produced by Mattel, the largest toy producer in the USA. Polish Foreign Minister Grzegorz Schetyna has threatened to take the maker of the Barbie and Ken dolls to court unless the game concerned is removed from the market.  full story

Czech Interior Ministry says DSSS still in crisis, Islamophobia stronger than antigypsyism

27.4.2015 20:59 Extremists in the Czech Republic convened 44 events during the first quarter of this year, 32 fewer than during the same period last year. The number of crimes related to extremism during the same period rose slightly year-on-year, from 46 in 2014 to 50 this year.  full story

75th anniversary of decision to create the Auschwitz concentration camp

27.4.2015 17:58 Seventy-five years ago, on 27 April 1940, Reichsfuhrer-SS Heinrich Himmler issued the decision that formed the basis for the establishment of a concentration and extermination camp in the Polish town of Oświęcim. In the infamous "death factory", called Auschwitz in German, more than 1.1 million human beings lost their lives, the vast majority of them Jewish.  full story

Analysis: Czech PM must clarify Government's stance on discrimination in education

27.4.2015 16:37 A report by Amnesty International (AI) released last week reminded us of more than the fact that the discrimination of Romani children persists in the Czech schools. The differing reactions to the report from Czech Education Minister Marcel Chládek and Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier once again showed that despite declarations of unity, the approaches taken by governing politicians to the future of inclusive education and the "practical schools" are very different.  full story

Czech court commissions evidence review in response to convicted neo-Nazi murderer's request for retrial

Hradec Králové, 27.4.2015 0:30 On 22 April, the Regional Court in Hradec Králové did not reach a decision on a motion filed by Vlastimil Pechanec to reopen the proceedings in the case of the racially motivated murder of a Romani man, Otto Absolon, at a discotheque in the Czech town of Svitavy in 2001. The court postponed the proceedings until it has received the results of its newly-commissioned expert evaluation of whether there is evidence on the murder weapon.  full story

Czech Republic: Commemorative ceremony 13 May at Romani Holocaust site at Lety

26.4.2015 20:07 On Wednesday, 13 May, a commemorative ceremony honoring the Romani victims of Nazism will take place at the site of the Lety Memorial. The ceremony is traditionally organized by the Committee for the Redress of the Roma Holocaust in the Czech Republic (Výbor pro odškodnění romského holocaustu v České republice - VPORH v ČR), which brings together Romani former prisoners of the Nazi concentration camps and relatives of the victims of those camps.  full story

Commentary: Dismissal of Czech Gov't Agency for Social Inclusion director is bad news, and not just for impoverished Roma

26.4.2015 5:30 At the end of last week, most of those "involved with Roma" were startled by the news that Martin Šimáček had been dismissed as director of the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion. Voices were immediately raised in support of him by more than 50 employees of the Agency.  full story

Czech media outlet puts unnecessary emphasis on ethnicity in reporting public transport incident

26.4.2015 3:30 On Thursday 23 April, online news server iDNES.cz wrote about an incident that took place on 22 April on public transport in Jihlava using the headline "Gypsies fight on trolleybus". After the obcasnik.eu website drew attention to this interesting headline, the iDNES.cz editors quietly and rapidly erased the content.  full story

EU tripling funds for Mediterranean Sea rescue, Czech Republic providing experts, funds and a plane

25.4.2015 22:51 Speaking after an extraordinary summit on migration in Brussels on 24 April, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told journalists the European Union will triple its funding for the Frontex agency's operations in the Mediterranean Sea. President of the EU Council Donald Tusk added that presidents and prime ministers have already promised airplanes, boats, experts and money.  full story

Czech Human Rights Minister: Schools must educate Czech and Romani children together

25.4.2015 19:52 Czech Minister for Human Rights, Equal Opportunities and Legislation Jiří Dienstbier has expressed appreciation for the activities of Amnesty International (AI) in pointing out problem areas and weak spots in the education of Romani children in the country's schools. "Understandably we are aware of the vast majority of the problem areas mentioned and we see this report as a confirmation of the fact that it is necessary to find appropriate measures to correct them," he said in his reaction to the AI report.  full story

Council of Europe: Refugees and violence against Romani people are current problems

25.4.2015 1:24 Last year was a bad year for fundamental human rights in the 47 member countries of the Council of Europe (CoE). CoE Human Rights Commissioner Nils Muižnieks says in his regular report that the reasons for this are the crisis around refugees in the Mediterranean Sea, the conflict in Ukraine, and attacks on media freedom.  full story