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Czech Republic: Charges filed against former senator for inciting hatred against Roma

Prague, 5.6.2013 16:53, (ROMEA) Criminal charges have been filed against Petr Pakosta, a former senator for the Civic Democrats (ODS) who is now an independent, over statements he has made about Romani people. The specific comments concered are the following, which were posted to his publicly accessible Facebook profile along with an article about a recent incident of assault allegedly perpetrated by Romani people against a married couple in the town of Duchcov:  full story

Czech Republic: Last Romani families leave Ostrava's Přednádraží street

Ostrava, 5.6.2013 16:07, (ROMEA) News server Novinky.cz reports that after a roughly 10-month fight to remain in one last building on Přednádraží street in Ostrava, the Romani families left there (about 20 people) have decided this week to definitely move out. Nonprofit organizations involved with them, however, do not want to give up on the matter and are considering filing a lawsuit against the role played by the authorities in the eviction process.  full story

videoCzech cop knocked Romani child from pram but the mother is being charged

Rokycany, 4.6.2013 21:08, (ROMEA) Police spokesperson Hana Kroftová has informed news server Romea.cz that the municipal police officer in Rokycany who knocked over a pram with a 16-month old Romani infant in it during a careless and violent intervention against the child's mother will not be brought up on criminal charges. His actions have now been submitted to the Rokycany municipal authorities for misdemeanor review because detectives decided they did not rise to the level of a felony.  full story

Czech Republic: Birth of Roma quintuplets prompts hate online

Prague, 3.6.2013 23:25, (ROMEA) A wave of racist hate has been expressed against the Romani parents of newborn quintuplets and those assisting them in the Czech Republic. The response is most apparent online, either in discussion posts responding to mainstream news articles about the safe delivery of the children, or in comments posted to social networking sites.  full story

France: Head of ultra-right may face trial for racism

Paris, 2.6.2013 23:52, (ROMEA) Marine Le Pen, the head of the ultra-right National Front party in France, now risks the possibility of being brought to trial in short order. She could be asked to answer to charges of racism for her previous anti-Muslim statements.  full story

Commentary: My father would not have tolerated what the Duchcov attacker did

Duchcov, 1.6.2013 19:47, (ROMEA) So many people, and not just recently, have been cursing us Roma (or Gypsies, whichever you prefer). I'm not going to write about the recent murder of a Romani man in Teplice, because the police are refusing to say anything about that case. What bothers me today is the brutal assault by a Romani boy on a married couple in Duchcov and the opinions expressed online about how that incident should be "addressed".  full story

Czech Republic: Crossbow shooter gets 10 years for manslaughter of Romani man

Ostrava, 31.5.2013 21:45, (ROMEA) Jaromír Šebesta (age 39), the crossbow shooter from the Czech town of Chotěbuz, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for the manslaughter of Martin Hospodi. The Regional Court in Ostrava handed the verdict down today.  full story

videoKhamoro 2013, Thursday: Concert of traditional Roma music

Prague, 20.5.2013 10:09, (ROMEA) The festival “Khamoro”, in other words “ The Sun” will last until the 2nd of June. Visitors will be offered along a number of accompanying events, with one of the biggest enticement of the festival which are the Roma traditional music concerts. Very well known bands from several countries of the world will perform during the Khamoro festival. The Czech formation Kale, Serbian Orchestar Saša Krstic and the fantastic Zuralia Orchestor from Romania will be introduced to the audience on Thursday, the 30th of May from 7pm at the Roxy club. You can enjoy listening to their music right now.  full story

videoKhamoro 2013, Friday: Concert of traditional Roma music

Prague, 30.5.2013 11:10, (ROMEA) Each day of the World Roma Festival Khamoro offers rich program, from which concerts of traditional Roma music are the most popular. On Friday, 31st May, you could go to the Roxy Club to enjoy a Spanish flamenco star Macarena Ramirez, a popular Hungarian band Olah Gipsy Beats and Gypsy folk group Taborshow from Russia. An illustration of their music you could find here.  full story

Czech Republic: 500 at anti-Roma demo, police keep neo-Nazis from attacking

Duchcov, 30.5.2013 2:51, (ROMEA) In the Czech town of Duchcov (Teplice district) about 500 people demonstrated in response to an attack perpetrated by a group of Romani people against a young non-Romani married couple in mid-May. Police have already charged five assailants with grievous bodily harm in the case.  full story

Czech mayor refuses to speak with relatives of Romani man murdered in his town

Teplice, 29.5.2013 17:54, (ROMEA) On Tuesday 28 May 2013, the friends and relatives of a Romani man killed on a square in Teplice recently during the grand opening of the spa season gathered in front of the town hall to remember the victim. The man's relatives consider his murder to have been a racist attack and are bothered by the fact that the victim has been described in the Czech media as a thief. Initial media reports on the incident said a stallkeeper attacked the 49-year-old man over the theft of two bratwurst.  full story

Czech Republic: Neo-Nazis convening today's demonstration in Duchcov

Duchcov, 29.5.2013 17:48, (ROMEA) A demonstration has been convened today in the Czech town of Duchcov in response to an incident in which a group of Romani people attacking a married couple there. The Antifa.cz website reports that the demonstration has been convened by neo-Nazi Jindřich "Pinďa" Svoboda, who has told the media that he is not interested in violent clashes.  full story

Marcel Grünza: Gadje, what are you so proud of?

Liberec, 28.5.2013 22:37, (ROMEA) I have just read a blog posting here entitled "Have you ever seen a gypsy in a library?" I am disgusted by these outbursts by would-be Czechs about Romani people. Some of them consider us all lazy, uneducated parasites who don't work, who don't know how to read and write, and who scrounge off of society.  full story

Czech Republic: Anti-Roma demonstrations tomorrow in Duchcov over assault

Duchcov/Prague, 28.5.2013 16:37, (ROMEA) The case of a brutal assault on a couple from Duchcov by Romani perpetrators is developing helter-skelter, with several new facts coming to light. It seems that two other Romani people, a man and a woman, did their best when arriving on the scene to get the Roma assailants to stop their violence.  full story

Czech Republic: Media downplay last weekend's racist murder

Teplice, 28.5.2013 0:28, (ROMEA) Some Czech media outlets are once again distorting their reporting of a case from north Bohemia, this time from the town of Teplice, where a Romani man has fallen victim to murder. According to TV Nova and the tabloid Blesk, the man, who was almost 50 at the time of his death, was murdered because of an argument over a bratwurst he is alleged to have stolen. No other media outlets have reported that the victim was Romani. According to the testimony of one of the victim's relatives, however, the entire matter had nothing to do with the alleged theft of anything. The murdered Romani man, 49-year-old Ivan Jarka, nicknamed Mikoro, was standing up for some young Romani guys who had done nothing to anyone and were being attacked by racists. The murderer allegedly stabbed him 21 times with a knife for defending them.  full story

Czech survey: Romani people have worst coexistence, employment since 1997

Prague, 27.5.2013 4:58, (ROMEA) Relations between Romani people and the other inhabitants of the Czech Republic are evaluated as poor by 87 % of the population, while 9 % believe they are good, according to a survey by the Center for Public Opinion Research (Centrum pro výzkum veřejného mínění - CVVM). Compared to last year's survey, the evaluation of coexistence has deteriorated to the lowest levels since such surveys began to be conducted in 1997. The CVVM survey contacted 1 000 people over the age of 15 with questions about coexistence with Roma from 8 - 15 April 2013.  full story

Patrik Banga: Judge, the arrow got him in the head by accident...

Prague, 24.5.2013 7:08, (ROMEA) So: Our Czech William Tell is on trial. He didn't hit the apple but the head, and surprise! The man he shot, died. A legend then sprang up about a hero protecting his property from a horde of gypsies who were robbing his house. The prosecutor, however, sees it differently, and her qualification of what happened approximates murder.  full story

Andrzej Mirga: We should be cautious about making empty claims

Czech Republic, 23.5.2013 6:44, (Romano vod'i) First Romani university student in Poland  full story

Czech Republic: Owner offers Přednádraží properties to town of Ostrava

Ostrava, 23.5.2013 5:45, (ROMEA) Yesterday the owner of the ill-fated properties on Přednádraží Street in Ostrava, Oldřich Roztočil, sent an open letter to Mayor Petr Kajnar (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD) offering to sell his real estate in the locality to the town and asking for a meeting. The mayor says he is not opposed to meeting with the landlord.  full story

Czech Republic: Sentencing in the street brawl that sparked 2011 unrest

Děčín, 22.5.2013 6:58, (ROMEA) Yesterday a court in Děčín handed down suspended sentences against four youths involved in the August 2011 street brawl in Rumburk that launched unrest in the Šluknov foothills. Three juveniles received sentences of between seven and eight months in prison, suspended for 18 months.  full story