News

Czech foundation supports work in places where anti-Romani marches have taken place

Prague, 12.6.2014 1:12, (ROMEA) The Open Society Fund Prague has distributed CZK 400 000 (EUR 15 500) to organizations working in places where right-wing extremists have been holding anti-Romani marches. Of the 18 requests for funding received, the expert commission has so far selected four winning projects for its "Together Without Prejudice" (Společně bez předsudků) grant call.  full story

Czech town recalls councilor for violating strategic agreement on real estate sales

Obrnice, 12.6.2014 0:40, (ROMEA) Members of the town council of Obrnice (Most district) voted last month to recall Boris Ležal (Czech Social Democratic Party) from his position as a town councilor. The municipality says Ležal violated a strategic agreement concluded with the local government on the sale of apartments or apartment buildings.  full story

Czech Muslims plan Constitutional complaint over raid on mosque

Prague, 12.6.2014 0:09, (ROMEA) The Center of Muslim Communities in the Czech Republic (Ústředí muslimských obcí v ČR) is preparing a constitutional complaint over a recent police raid on their mosques in Prague. Munib Hasan Alravi, chair of the center, informed the Czech News Agency of the move on 5 June.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani figures rebuke Romani entrepreneur for anti-Roma slurs

Brno/Prague, 11.6.2014 23:22, (ROMEA) The Brno-based entrepreneur Rastislav Lučanský, who recently ran as an EP candidate, will be leaving the Romani Democratic Party (Romská demokratická strana- RDS) to establish his own political movement. Lučanský is said to have failed to reach an understanding with his RDS colleagues.  full story

International Islamic organization demands apology from Czech President, he won't budge

Prague, 11.6.2014 22:21, (ROMEA) The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has condemned the recent remarks made by Czech President Miloš Zeman during the celebrations of Israel's Independence Day at the end of May. Commenting on the recent attack on the Jewish Museum in Brussels, Zeman said attacks by Islamist fanatics are an outcome of their ideology.  full story

Germany: Courts say President may call extreme right-wing xenophobes "crazy"

Berlin, 11.6.2014 21:18, (ROMEA) German President Joachim Gauck did not violate the Constitution when he called adherents of the ultra-right National Democratic Party of the Germany (NPD) "crazy" last year. The decision was made yesterday by the German Constitutional Court, to whom the NPD turned with a lawsuit against the head of state.  full story

France: FN chair distances herself from her father's remarks

Paris, 11.6.2014 20:43, (ROMEA) Marine Le Pen, the head of the nationalist Front National (FN) in France, has taken down a video channel on the party's website in which her father, FN honorary chair Jean-Marie Le Pen, has been regularly commenting on current events. The decision came after Mr Le Pen outraged the public with yet another obviously anti-Semitic remark on Friday.  full story

Roma who won lawsuit against Czech Republic still can't find jobs

Prague, 11.6.2014 20:13, (ROMEA) It was a surprise in 2007 when 18 Romani schoolchildren from Ostrava won their lawsuit against the Czech Republic. The European Court for Human Rights recognized at the time that the state had discriminated against them in their access to education.  full story

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