News

Slovakia: Local Romani councilors give up their remuneration

Kamenná Poruba, Slovak Republic, 26.1.2015 0:53, (ROMEA) Five newly-elected local councilors from the Romani Coalition Party (Strana romské koalice - SRK) in the town of Kamenná Poruba (Vranov nad Topľou district) have surprised the public by giving up their remuneration. The councilors will perform their roles on the local council completely free of charge.  full story

Germany: Interest in Pegida declining, counter-intelligence says extremist involvement varies

Berlin/Leipzig, 25.1.2015 23:56, (ROMEA) On 22 January approximately 15 000 people attended an anti-Islam demonstration convened by the Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West (Pegida) movement in Leipzig. Organizers had counted on four times as many people participating.  full story

Commentary: France is going crazy with the fight against terrorism - what next?

Prague, 25.1.2015 5:03, (ROMEA) "We aren't Charlie and we never will be, you band of whores. You reap what you sow," is what one of four underage students in France posted to Facebook, according to the Czech News Agency, before they were arrested on 22 January by French Police.  full story

Czech President says he meant "only" the mentally disabled should be educated separately

Prague, 25.1.2015 3:53, (ROMEA) After meeting with Czech Education Minister Marcel Chládek (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD), Czech President Miloš Zeman has said that his recent remarks about handicapped children were not about the physically disabled. Chládek said that in their conversation, Zeman clarified that he had primarily meant to refer to moderately severe and profound cases of mental handicap.  full story

Czech Holocaust commemoration will appeal against anti-Semitism and extremism - Romani victims forgotten?

Prague/Terezín, 25.1.2015 1:36, (ROMEA) This coming Monday, Prague Castle will be the venue for an international forum that aims to draw attention to rising anti-Semitism and extremism in the world and to seek solutions to the most burning problems linked to religious intolerance; it will be attended by 30 heads of national legislatures from around the world as well as 500 additional guests. The conference is part of a two-day commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp and the end of the Holocaust.  full story

Czech film about Roma wins Czech Film Critics Award, as does Romani actress

Prague, 24.1.2015 23:37, (ROMEA) The winner of the Czech Film Critics Award this year is Petr Václav's "The Way Out" (Cesta ven). The film has garnered three awards for Best Film, Best Direction and Best Screenplay.  full story

Czech Republic: Museum of Romani Culture marks Holocaust Remembrance Day

Brno, 24.1.2015 22:04, (ROMEA) On 27 January 1945 the complex of Nazi concentration camps at Auschwitz, where millions of people from all over Europe suffered and died, was liberated by the Red Army. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the day the "death factory", as Auschwitz is called, was closed.  full story

Czech court rules publication of Hitler's speeches was legal

Brno, 24.1.2015 20:43, (ROMEA) The publication of a book entitled Adolf Hitler: Projevy (Adolf Hitler: Speeches) is not a felony and its publisher should not face prosecution. Yesterday the Regional Court in Brno upheld the verdict of the Municipal Court in Brno from last September, which came to the same conclusion.  full story

Charges against creator of Czech-Romani flag exhibit don't stick

Prague, 24.1.2015 19:54, (ROMEA) Prague City Hall has refused to uphold a fine levied by the Prague 7 Municipal Department against an exhibition of designs for a Czech-Romani flag. The decision to levy the fine has been overturned and the proceedings in the matter halted.  full story

Czech lower house supports ratification of foreigners' rights, except to vote

Prague, 23.1.2015 20:46, (ROMEA) Yesterday during the opening round of negotiations on ratifying the international Convention on the Participation of Foreigners in Public Life at local level, the Czech lower house expressed support for the Government's proposed approach. Some MPs, however, urged caution regarding ratification of the treaty.  full story

Czech Gov't Agency for Social Inclusion publishes Methodology for a Coordinated Approach to Socially Excluded Localities

Prague, 23.1.2015 18:01, (ROMEA) The Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion has published a document that will be the basis of its work in towns and villages during the next EU-funded programming period. The detailed material is called the Methodology for a Coordinated Approach to Socially Excluded Localities  full story

Czech extremism report: Islamophobic group uses cyber-bullying

Prague, 23.1.2015 16:35, (ROMEA) The ultra-right scene in the Czech Republic has recently focused on "combating Islam". The most active group is the Czech Defense League (CZDL), represented by "We Don't Want Islam in the Czech Republic" (IvČRN) on the Facebook social networking site.  full story

Czech Republic: Experts believe schools will not open to the disadvantaged or to Romani children

Prague, 23.1.2015 3:03, (ROMEA) Czech society is divided, elitist, incapable of achieving consensus and intolerant. It is not likely that even the best-intended attempts at reforming the primary schools will succeed any time soon.  full story

Romea.cz exclusive: Romani quintuplets' family responds to critique

Milovice, 23.1.2015 1:16, (ROMEA) A recent interview with Ms Klára Vítková-Rulíková on news server Ona.Dnes.cz about the family of Romani quintuplets has sparked a wave of passionate debate on the Czech internet. Vítková-Rulíková, the founder of the Club of Twins and Higher Multiples (Klubu dvojčat a vícerčat - KDV) discussed private family matters in that interview, among other things, accused them of wasting food, and said they were incapable of establishing a functioning system of care for their children, all of which then culminated in her claim that without her direct aid, the family risked having their children taken away by the state.  full story

Czech Republic: Five charged in brawl between Romani customers and security guards in Ostrava

Ostrava, 22.1.2015 0:18, (ROMEA) Police have charged five people so far in connection with last week's serious scuffle between Romani customers and security guards at a gaming room in the Ostrava-Bělský Les neighborhood. On Tuesday a 29-year-old man was charged with rioting in relation to the incident.  full story

Czech Republic: Romea.cz asks NGOs if they still want to change the world or just raise money?

Prague, 21.1.2015 22:55, (ROMEA) Are nonprofits still able and willing to contest majority thinking and those in power? Or are they unable to risk such conflict because they might lose their grants from individual donors and state institutions?  full story

Czech Constitutional Court rejects ex-Senator's complaint against fine for racism

Brno, 21.1.2015 16:03, (ROMEA) The Czech Constitutional Court (Ústavní soud - ÚS) has rejected a complaint from former Czech Senator Vladimír Dryml against a fine of CZK 20 000 that he must pay for verbally attacking a doctor from Yemen. The sanction was levied by the Czech Senate's Committee on Immunity, according to which Dryml's remarks were racially motivated.  full story

Czech Republic: Director of Terezín memorial against NGO honoring Romani victims separately

Terezín, 21.1.2015 0:21, (ROMEA) The Konexe association is planning to hold an event to honor the Romani victims of the Holocaust at Terezín on the same day that the official commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz will take place. Konexe is concerned that Romani victims will either not be remembered at all or will not be sufficiently remembered by the official event.  full story

Czech Republic: ROMEA helps tutor socially disadvantaged children

Kladno, 20.1.2015 21:58, (ROMEA) From September to December 2014, socially disadvantaged children received regular tutoring at the Pařížská Primary School in Kladno as part of a project called "Education for successful integration". One ambition of the project was to involve Romani college students as tutors.  full story

Czech Police charge seven people with transporting drugs from Ústí Region to Slovakia

Prague, 20.1.2015 21:27, (ROMEA) On the basis of collaboration between the Czech and Slovak Police, a total of 15 perpetrators were arrested at the end of 2014 and start of 2015 on the territory of each state through two separate operations targeting the extensive, illegally organized international trade in methamphetamine. The National Anti-Drug Headquarters (Národní protidrogová centrála - NPC) has charged seven people with responsibility for this alleged criminal drug activity, including the export of marijuana and methamphetamine through several courier routes from the Ústí Region to eastern Slovakia.  full story