Czech Republic

Commentary: The difficult path to integrating Czech Roma

8.2.2013 1:11, (ROMEA) The dismal housing situation, long-term unemployment, a high percentage of Romani children educated in the "practical primary schools" (special schools), and numerous incidents of anti-Romani sentiment, including demonstrations, in many towns throughout the Czech Republic: All of this shows that the process of integrating Romani people into society is markedly failing in practice. The living conditions and social situations of many Romani families continue to significantly intensify.  full story

Analysis: High emotions no help in housing drama

Ústí nad Labem, 6.2.2013 19:03, (ROMEA) The recently resolved case of the residential hotel occupants in the Krásné Březno quarter of Ústí nad Labem is a clear example of something we are all aware of: The dismissive approach taken toward Romani people in this country is often based on the social positions of those involved and the sense of superiority felt by those who are better off. During this recent scandal, the situation of people who are some of the very poorest in this country was spun by the Romani owner of the building in the Předlice quarter which they had to evacuate, by the town government (in the hands of the Czech Social Democrats - ČSSD), by the Romani operator of the residential hotel, and by the firm owning the building in which it was located. Unfortunately, some NGOs also spun their story as well.  full story

Housing for All: We charge the system with failure and incompetence

Ústí nad Labem, 4.2.2013 23:46, (ROMEA) An improvised press conference of the Housing for All initiative (Bydlení pro všechny) took place this afternoon in front of the residential hotel in the Krásné Březno quarter of Ústí nad Labem. News server Romea.cz is publishing in full translation below a declaration that was read at that event.  full story

Czech town official alleges housing rights activists "just wanted publicity"

Ústí nad Labem, 4.2.2013 22:33, (ROMEA) Activists from the Housing for All (Bydlení pro všechny) initiative celebrated today as the last remaining tenants of a residential hotel in Ústí nad Labem prepared to move to better housing. The move ends a drama that has been unfolding since the fall, one that has the potential to repeat itself on a much larger scale in the future.  full story

Czech practical primary schools to be transformed, not closed

Prague, 4.2.2013 17:33, (ROMEA) Deputy Education Minister Jiří Nantl says "practical primary schools" in the Czech Republic will not be closed as many fear, but that it is necessary to transform them as per a European Court of Human Rights judgment so that pupils are not enrolled into such schools simply because they come from socially disadvantaged environments. Czech Government Human Rights Commissioner Monika Šimůnková told a public hearing in the Czech Senate today that the schools must be transformed.  full story

Czech initiative finds housing for Romani residential hotel evictees

Ústí nad Labem, 4.2.2013 16:43, (ROMEA) The Romani families evacuated from the Předlice quarter of Ústí nad Labem who remained in the residential hotel on Čelakovského street in the Krásné Březno quarter after its closure have all found new housing. The families have started moving into properties in the the Klíše quarter that were found for them by the Housing for All (Bydlení pro všechny) initiative.  full story

Czech initiative: Residential hotel tenants need rapid assistance

Ústí nad Labem, 2.2.2013 20:38, (ROMEA) News server Romea.cz is translating in full below a press release from the Housing for All (Bydlení pro všechny) initiative on the current situation at the residential hotel in the Krásné Březno quarter of Ústí nad Labem. According to information from one of the Romani tenants, everyone occupying the residential hotel must move out by Tuesday at the very latest. Of course, everyone is now sleeping in the cold at the property because the heat has been disconnected.  full story

How Romani people are living in Ostrava, Czech Republic

Ostrava, 2.2.2013 19:12, (ROMEA) The photographs that follow are from Ostrava today. Near the main train station a memorial to Holocaust victims was erected a while back. Its dominant feature, a Star of David, is comprised of several separate elements, as you can see in the photographs.  full story

Czech initiative says town must take responsibility for evictees

Ústí nad Labem, 2.2.2013 0:54, (ROMEA) The Housing for All initiative (Iniciativa Bydlení pro všechny), which is assisting people living at the residential hotel on Čelakovského street in Ústí nad Labem, is calling on the owner of that property, the CPI Byty company, to reconnect electricity and water service to the building and extend the rental contract held by those occupying it. Families with children remain at the residential hotel who have not yet been able to find acceptable accommodation into which to move. The occupants of the residential hotel have been supported by Czech Helsinki Committee chair Anna Šabatová and former presidential candidate Táňa Fischerová. News server Romea.cz publishes a full translation of the initiative's latest press release, first released in Czech on 1 February at 10:45 CET, below.  full story

Utilities cut to occupied residential hotel in Czech town

Ústí nad Labem, 1.2.2013 17:03, (ROMEA) The situation of the very poorest people living at the residential hotel on Čelakovského street in the Czech town of Ústí nad Labem remains critical. The CPI Byty company, which owns the building in the Krásné Březno quarter, has ended its contract with the business leasing it. This morning an extended deadline by which the people living in the building were to move out expired with people still in the building - not just the occupants themselves, but also activists from the Housing for All initiative (Iniciativa Bydlení pro všechny) who came to help them. In a press release, the town of Ústí has stated that the families got themselves into this bad situation through their own actions.  full story

Czech Housing for All initiative: We won't allow families to be split up

1.2.2013 3:31, (ROMEA) The Housing for All initiative has issued the following press release, which news server Romea.cz is publishing in full translation:  full story

Czech NGO: Some evicted families rejected housing options without giving a reason

1.2.2013 2:57, (ROMEA) The organization People in Need (Člověk v tísni) has issued a press release claiming that some families now being evicted from the residential hotel on Čelakovského street in Ústí nad Labem were assisted by their staffers with finding substitute accommodation and allegedly rejected the options offered to them. News server Romea.cz is publishing the press release below in full translation:  full story

videoCzech firm to evict residential hotel tenants tonight

Ústí nad Labem, 31.1.2013 14:55, (ROMEA) The situation at the residential hotel on Čelakovského street in the Krásné Březno quarter of Ústí nad Labem is escalating. The CPI Byty company, which owns the residential hotel, previously announced it would be shutting the building down today. Now the firm has posted a letter to the tenants on a bulletin board there informing them that unless they move out by 19:00 CET today, the company will intervene against them tomorrow morning.  full story

Housing for the poor a social time bomb in Czech Republic

Czech Republic, 29.1.2013 22:50, (ROMEA) The situation of the poorest people in this country is critical and neither municipalities nor the state are resolving it. There is no work for them, no equal education for them, and not enough dignified housing for them. A social time bomb is ticking here. Once it explodes, municipal and state representatives will "wash their hands of it" and make alibistic statements, as they always do on such occasions. The atmosphere in society is set for asocial behavior on the part of politicians. Poor people, including Romani people living in the ghettos, are indiscriminately considered parasites feeding off of the rest of us.  full story

Czech nonprofits: Some evicted families have been housed in Ústí

Ústí nad Labem, 29.1.2013 17:21, (ROMEA) The housing situation in Ústí nad Labem is critical, just as it is in other places throughout the Czech Republic. People are gradually moving out of the Předlice quarter there, where structural engineers say almost 30 buildings are now defective. For the time being this concerns a building on Beneše Lounského street which has been neglected by its owner and labeled unfit for human habitation by a structural engineer, but people will be moving out of the other buildings there in future.  full story

Czech Republic: Adopted son of Romani singer Věra Bílá found dead

Rokycany, 29.1.2013 1:23, (ROMEA) The 33-year-old adopted son of Romani singer Věra Bílá passed away this afternoon in the Czech town of Rokycany. His body was found in a public toilet. Police are investigating the cause of his death and have ordered an autopsy. News server iDNES.cz reports that the singer has confirmed the news and believes that someone murdered her adopted son František.  full story

Commentary: Czech Residency Bans will solve nothing

Litvínov, 29.1.2013 0:43, (ROMEA) Almost anything at all can be imagined as falling under the concept of democracy, and many of us are somehow prevented from understanding what kind of power we all acquired here in November 1989. Most of us have a basic problem with the very definition of democracy. It is, therefore, easily understandable why today's functionaries do not have to distance themselves from previous totalitarian practices, which seem democratic and excusable to us today, at least under their definition of democracy. The truth is that the achievement of real democracy is very complex, and navigating it is too complicated. Our society is not prepared for complications - or better said, it is not capable of compromise.  full story

On-line reporting of demonstration against evictions

Prague, 28.1.2013 23:52, (ROMEA) A new initiative called "Housing for All" (Bydlení pro všechny) has arisen in response to the ongoing scandal in the Czech town of Ústí nad Labem, where people where evicted from a building that was unfit for human habitation because the owner let it deteriorate and are now unable to find any normal, permanent housing. Starting at 14:00 CET a protest action took place in front of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs in Prague. News server Romea.cz followed the demonstration on-line in real time.  full story

Czech Police arrest 12 after demo against evictions

Prague, 28.1.2013 23:15, (ROMEA) After today's demonstration against the eviction of families from a residential hotel in the Czech town of Ústí nad Labem, police officers arrested 12 people in Prague who refused to leave the building of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (MPSV). The transport of those arrested from the scene was accompanied by small-scale scuffles between approximately 30 demonstrators and the police  full story

Czech electorate chooses Miloš Zeman as the next president

Prague, 26.1.2013 19:48, (ROMEA) Miloš Zeman has been chosen by popular vote to become the next president of the Czech Republic. All votes have been counted.  full story