News

Czech Human Rights Minister: Success will be equal representation of minorities in inclusive education

Prague, 10.6.2014 23:29, (ROMEA) Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier (Czech Social Democrats - ČSSD) says the will of local politicians and the securing of popular support are the basic prerequisites for a good starting point for including minorities into mainstream society. He made the remarks in an interview with the Czech daily Lidové noviny which the ČSSD party has published on its website; news server Romea.cz brings you that interview in full translation.  full story

Historians warn against reviving Ukrainian nationalism

Ukraine, 10.6.2014 21:14, (ROMEA) The promoters of pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine have a clear opinion of the government in Kiev: They are "Banderites and Fascists". Czech President Miloš Zeman has now become the most recent figure to mention the personality of 20th-century Ukrainian nationalist Stepan Bandera.  full story

Albright says Roma not respected in Czech Republic and elsewhere

Prague, 10.6.2014 18:45, (ROMEA) Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, speaking at a conference of the Prague branch of the American think-tank the Aspen Institute, expressed her views on the strengthening of extremist parties in Europe as confirmed by the recent elections to the European Parliament, as well as on the position of Romani people in Europe. A native of Prague, Albright said she is following with great distress the lack of respect enjoyed by Romani people in the Czech Republic and elsewhere.  full story

Germany: More than 100 000 people join "like attack" campaign against neo-Nazism

Hamburg, Germany, 10.6.2014 0:19, (ROMEA) The German organization Laut Gegen Nazis has conducted a "Like Attack" campaign, an untraditional use of social networking to draw attention to the fact that neo-Nazism is not part of the past in Germany but remains a current threat. The campaign has undertaken a "love your enemy" strategy in which promoters of the event flooded the website of a neo-Nazi political party with anti-Nazi slogans and "liked" them.  full story

Czech Region must pay more than EUR 7 million for subsidy distribution errors

Liberec, 9.6.2014 23:39, (ROMEA) Errors committed recently in the distribution of social services funds in Liberec Region did not constitute a felony. Police have shelved the case.  full story

Czech judge who dissolved neo-Nazi party joins Constitutional Court

Brno/Prague, 9.6.2014 22:42, (ROMEA) On 30 May the Czech Senate approved Czech President Miloš Zeman's proposal to promote Judge Vojtěch Šimíček to the Constitutional Court. Šimíček chaired a panel at the Supreme Administrative Court that decides on electoral and political party cases.  full story

Czech Republic: Residential hotel set on fire in Liberec

Liberec, 9.6.2014 21:27, (ROMEA) Late afternoon Sunday a residential hotel on U Kolory Street in Liberec caught fire. Residents were evacuated before firefighters arrived and no one was injured.  full story

Czech Ghettofest attracts almost 3 000 this year

Brno, 9.6.2014 19:34, (ROMEA) The streets of Brno's "Bronx" were alive with the arts, culture and entertainment brought there by Ghettofest during the weekend of 6 - 8 June. The number of visitors exceeded previous years, approaching 3 000 people over the course of all three days.  full story

France: Le Pen's new remarks spark outrage

Paris, 9.6.2014 18:19, (ROMEA) Anti-racist associations and a French cabinet member have responded with outrage to new remarks by the founder and former leader of the ultra-right Front National (FN). Agence France-Presse reports that Jean-Marie Le Pen has used made anti-Semitic remarks in response to those who oppose him.  full story

Czech Senate likely to reject European Commission's urging on Romani measures

Prague, 9.6.2014 17:43, (ROMEA) The Czech Senate is evidently planning to object to the European Commission instructing the Member States on specific measures for the social inclusion of Romani people. The upper chamber's EU Committee has recommended the Commission's instructions to that body.  full story

Czech right-wing extremists march through town where Romani arson victims live

Budišov nad Budišovkou, 9.6.2014 17:13, (ROMEA) On Saturday a demonstration was held in the town of Budišov nad Budišovkou that was advertised as a "Commemorative march for Viktor Švarc". Right-wing extremists attempted to exploit the as-yet unsolved death of Mr Švarc, who was 28 years old when he died.  full story

Czech Police again report fabricated attack by "dark-skinned" person as real

Prague/Jihlava, 8.6.2014 3:24, (ROMEA) The Czech Police evidently still do not know how to go about publicizing information from their investigations. Many examples to back up this claim exist, but the most recent is, of course, the most typical: The existence of fabricated reports of "muggings" which the police (and subsequently, several media outlets) present to the public as having actually occurred through their initially poorly-formulated press releases.  full story

Czech ministers visit excluded localities in Karviná, Labor Minister visits Chomutov

Chomutov/Karviná, 7.6.2014 23:32, (ROMEA) Yesterday Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec and Labor and Social Affairs Minister Michaela Marksová Tominová paid a joint visit to the Moravian-Silesian Region. The ministers specifically visited socially excluded localities in the town of Karviná.  full story

Czech NGO to host US students this summer to study social exclusion

Prague, 6.6.2014 23:31, (ROMEA) From June until August, six students from Lehigh University in the American state of Pennsylvania will participate in a study abroad visit to the Czech Republic. The students will be hosted by Inclusio, a nonprofit group that focuses on support for the inclusion and integration of minorities in the Czech Republic.  full story

Czech Republic: Interview with Alica Heráková, founder of Ghettofest

Brno, 6.6.2014 22:59, (ROMEA) Alica Heráková lives in the neighborhood of the Czech city of Brno around Bratislavská and Cejl Streets that is nicknamed the "Bronx". She has decided to convince the residents of Brno that the quarter is not actually a dangerous place that should be avoided.  full story

Greece: Neo-Nazi sentenced to 10 years for knife attack

Athens, 6.6.2014 21:27, (ROMEA) On Wednesday 4 June a Greek court sentenced a 23-year-old admirer of a local neo-Nazi group to 10 years in prison for the stabbing last year of a high school student with whom he was arguing about politics. Agence France-Presse reports that the first-instance verdict was immediately appealed.  full story

France: 70th anniversary commemorations of D-Day

Normandy, France, 6.6.2014 20:38, (ROMEA) Since midnight, thousands of people have been commemorating the 70th anniversary of the landing of the Allied troops in Normandy, an event that became the turning point of the Second World War and forecast the ultimate defeat of Nazi Germany. During a nighttime vigil at Pegasus Bridge, the first jump by British paratroopers was commemorated, while on Ohama Beach people waited emotionally for the dawn, the moment when, 70 years ago, the first Allied soldiers stepped onto French soil.  full story

Czech state to expand public contract conditions on hiring the unemployed

Prague, 6.6.2014 19:54, (ROMEA) The Czech Labor Minister intends to implement the hiring of unemployed persons through public procurement contracts. Several municipalities have already introduced criteria for this.  full story

Czech Senator Dryml appeals fine for verbal abuse

Prague, 5.6.2014 23:54, (ROMEA) Czech Senator Vladimír Dryml, formerly a supporter of Czech President Zeman and a former member of the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD), has decided to file a constitutional complaint against the Senate. The upper chamber has upheld a verdict issued by its Parliamentary Immunity Committee fining the senator CZK 20 000 for verbally abusing a doctor from Yemen.  full story

Czech Equal Opportunities Party has new chair

Prague, 5.6.2014 23:28, (ROMEA) After the failure of the Equal Opportunities Party during the recent elections for the European Parliament, Štefan Tišer has resigned his post as chair. The party's new chair is its former adviser, Miroslav Kováč.  full story