News

Czech court sentences Romani orchestrator of attack in Děčín to 7.5 years

Děčín, 20.12.2014 3:23, (ROMEA) The Děčín District Court has sentenced the main actor in a brawl near the Calypso gaming room this past July to 7.5 years in prison. Zdeněk Jano will serve his sentence in a maximum security prison for committing grievous bodily harm, rioting, and failing to provide first aid.  full story

Czech Senate distances itself from former Senator's lies about "gypsies" in Switzerland

Prague, 19.12.2014 21:24, (ROMEA) "Geneva used to be a friendly, open city, but several hundred Balkan gypsies were drawn there and now the town is completely paralyzed. The Swiss are afraid to let their children walk down the street. Gypsy children are robbing stores where security measures are weak like magpies," former Czech Senator Pavel Lebeda said this past summer in an interview with the Czech tabloid news server ParlamentníListy.cz.  full story

Czech Republic: Mass this evening commemorates President Václav Havel

Prague, 18.12.2014 23:42, (ROMEA) Former Czech President Václav Havel, who passed away three years ago today in his cottage in the town of Hrádeček (Trutnov district), is being commemorated there through the
lighting of dozens of candles and the placing of various heart-shaped objects. People have been stopping by the cottage since morning to light candles.  full story

Czech winner of US Embassy human rights prize says tolerance for racism is rising

Prague, 17.12.2014 22:26, (ROMEA) The Alice Garrigue Masaryk Prize, which is awarded annually by the American Embassy in Prague in the area of human rights, went to the director and founder of the In IUSTITIA association, Klára Kalibová, this year. She received the award from US Ambassador Andrew Schapiro on 9 December for providing legal aid to the victims of violent hate crimes.  full story

Czech Republic: Racist gang attacks Romani man in Havířov

Havířov, 17.12.2014 19:53, (ROMEA) A 30-year-old Romani man from the Czech town of Havířov was assaulted Saturday night by a group of attackers who are said to have racially abused him. The victim escaped by fleeing into the garden of a house that happened to belong to a District Court judge.  full story

Germany: Planned residential hotels for refugees set ablaze, swastika graffiti nearby

16.12.2014 20:25, (ROMEA) Not far from the town of Nuremberg during the night of 11 December and early morning hours of 12 December, residential hotels intended to house refugees went up in flames. According to Deutsche-Presse Agentur, there are suspicions that they were deliberately set on fire.  full story

Czech competition for "Twentieth Century Stories" announces winners

Prague, 16.12.2014 19:17, (ROMEA) Almost 7 000 people in the Czech Republic voted online for the biggest documentary competition, "Twentieth Century Stories", through which competitors discovered more than 3 000 forgotten eyewitnesses to events from the last century. There were 82 participants in the semi-final round of this second year of the competition.  full story

Czech court handles case of bar attack in Děčín, defendants claim racism

Děčín, 16.12.2014 17:41, (ROMEA) On 9 December testimony was given by the final defendant, Zdeněk Jano, before the Děčín District Court in the main hearing of the case of an attack committed in July by three Romani youths against two non-Romani men and a woman. Peter Horvát and David Czigány face up to two years in prison if convicted of rioting and failing to provide first aid.  full story

Czech town implements "zero tolerance" over shooting between two Romani families

Šternberk na Olomoucku, 16.12.2014 16:39, (ROMEA) News server Deník.cz reported on 12 December that the town of Šternberk and local police applied security measures and a "zero tolerance" policy three weeks ago after a shooting took place between local Romani families. Today the situation is said to be calm.  full story

Cyril Koky: Socially excluded Romani localities are a trap the state does not know how to close

Prague, 16.12.2014 15:28, (ROMEA) On Monday, 15 December 2014, the Department of Social Affairs of the Central Bohemian Regional Authority held a conference for 50 representatives of municipalities with extended jurisdiction and social services providers working in Central Bohemia on the topic of "The Issue of Social Exclusion". Cyril Koky, Romani Affairs Coordinator for the Central Bohemian Regional Authority, informed news server Romea.cz of the event.  full story

Commentary: Czech Police beat people and expel them instead of "helping and protecting"

Prague, 15.12.2014 22:00, (ROMEA) What the Czech Police did on Saturday after the demonstration to save the Klinika Autonomous Cultural and Social Center looked like a very absurd performance taken from a documentary film about police brutality against demonstrators before the events of 1989. Police unnecessarily beat people up and shouted vulgar curses at the peaceful demonstrators, many of whom were girls.  full story

Czech Govt Agency for Social Inclusion director says normal housing is the best gift for children in residential hotels

Prague, 15.12.2014 20:03, (ROMEA) News server Deník.cz has published an interview with the director of the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion, Martin Šimáček. In it he discusses the sad prospects of children in excluded localities, indebtedness and other reasons for the current crises in many families, and Christmas.  full story

Czech Communists call on their people in Duchcov to end governing coalition with ultra-right

Duchcov/Prague, 15.12.2014 19:02, (ROMEA) The chair of the Ústí Regional Committee of the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM) said Saturday that he will once again appeal to politicians in Duchcov elected for the party not to form a governing coalition with the right-wing extremist Workers' Social Justice Party (Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti - DSSS). Vojtěch Filip informed the Czech News Agency of the decision during a session of the KSČM Central Committee.  full story

Czech SocDems close local organization over ultra-right coalition

Duchcov/Prague, 13.12.2014 20:04, (ROMEA) The Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) closed its local cell in Duchcov today after its members there formed a local coalition government with the right-wing extremist Workers' Social Justice Party (Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti - DSSS). Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, the party head, proposed the motion to the Central Executive Committee of the ČSSD today.  full story

Czech Police expert disagrees that Roma should stay away from anti-Romani demonstrations

Prague, 13.12.2014 0:12, (ROMEA) Last week a round table was held on the issue of violent hate crimes at the American Center in Prague. The gathering was held by Open Society Fund Prague for
representatives of nonprofit organizations and the state administration, and its aim was to reflect on the recent anti-Romani marches and the anti-Romani atmosphere in Czech society.  full story

Čeněk Růžička: We demand review of the police procedure over Okamura's defamation of Romani Holocaust victims

Prague, 12.12.2014 23:11, (ROMEA) The chair of the Committee for the Redress of the Romani Holocaust (Výbor pro odškodnění romského holocaustu - VPORH) Čeněk Růžička,, the ROMEA organization, Michal Miko of the Slovo 21 association and Miroslav Kováč of the Equal Opportunities Party (Strana rovných příležitostí - SRP) have sent the District State Prosecutor for Prague 5 a motion to review the police procedure in the investigation of a report that Tomio Okamura, chair of the "Dawn of Direct Democracy" movement (Úsvit), committed the felony of denying, questioning, approving and justifying genocide. "In this matter we must take advantage of all the options afforded us by law. We cannot close our eyes to the kind of defamation of the memory of the Romani victims of the Holocaust that Tomio Okamura has perpetrated," Růžička previously told news server Romea.cz.  full story

Czech Republic: ROMEA meets with Romani job-seekers, debt collection and discrimination main concerns

Prague, 12.12.2014 22:06, (ROMEA) Almost 30 people gathered last week in the House of National Minorities in Prague to get more information about the processes of debt collection, job seeking and the welfare system as well as how to address discrimination in education and employment. Almost all of them had been involved during the past year with the ROMEA organization's "Support for Romani Employment in Prague (2013-2014)" project and have been doing their best to find work.  full story

Czech SocDems to revisit coalition with ultra-right in Duchcov

Duchcov/Prague, 12.12.2014 20:04, (ROMEA) The governing body of the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) is scheduled to return to the situation in Duchov today, where local party members have created a
coalition government with right-wing extremists from the Workers' Social Justice Party (DSSS). Party leadership disagrees with the decision and wants to close the
local cell.  full story

Czech trial reveals how years of prejudice can explode in violence

Prague, 12.12.2014 19:07, (ROMEA) At the start of December, the trial began of a man charged with committing racially motivated grievous bodily harm, violence against an ethnic group and individuals, illegal drug production, trespassing, property damage and making threats under the influence of addictive substances. The start of the trial at the Regional Court was marked by the recent ice storm; while an associate justice, the Regional State Prosecutor, all five witnesses and the attorney for the victims waited in vain for two hours in the corridor of the courthouse, the presiding justice was unable to make it there because of the ice.  full story

Czech Government should have forced sterilization compensation plan outlined in six months

Prague, 11.12.2014 23:47, (ROMEA) The Czech Government should receive a proposal for the outlines of a law to compensate the victims of illegal sterilizations by mid-2015. Money from the state would then be paid to the victims during the current administration, which is slated to leave office in 2017.  full story