News

Czech Labor Office calls spam e-mail about Romani people "lies and nonsense"

Prague, 1.8.2013 23:10, (ROMEA) Yet another dishonest e-mail is spreading online in which alleged author Jiří Máška describes how Romani people are reportedly "getting rich" by drawing welfare. The hoax e-mail has also been sent more than once to the e-mail address of news server Romea.cz.  full story

Slovakia: Romani home targeted by machine gun fire, no injuries

Šaľa, Slovakia, 1.8.2013 21:36, (ROMEA) Yesterday assailants who have yet to be identified shot 22 bullets from a machine gun at a Romani home in the village of Hornej Kráľovej u Šali in Slovakia. The Markíza television station reported that at approximately 3 AM two cars pulled up in front of the building and several angry men reportedly shouted "Come out you dirty Gypsies!" at the Romani occupants of the home.  full story

Czech Govt Human Rights Commissioner to meet with PM, Interior Minister about social unrest

Prague, 31.7.2013 23:04, (ROMEA) On Thursday, 1 August at 13:00 there will be a meeting of a working group to address the social unrest in the country at the Office of the Government of the Czech Republic. Czech Government Human Rights Commissioner Monika Šimůnková has called the meeting on the basis of information she has received from the field through the Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion.  full story

Slovak police said to have proceeded correctly during intervention at Romani settlement

Bratislava, Slovakia, 31.7.2013 17:24, (ROMEA) Yesterday Slovak Interior Minister Robert Kaliňák told journalists that his ministry's Inspectorate has found that the Slovak Police did not commit any errors during an intervention at a Romani settlement in eastern Slovakia this past June. NGOs and Romani residents had protested the alleged brutality of the police during the incident.  full story

Czech PM Jiří Rusnok to honor the memory of Romani Holocaust victims at Lety

Lety u Písku, 30.7.2013 20:50, (ROMEA) On 1 August 2013 at 20:00 CET a commemorative ceremony and cultural program will take place at the former concentration camp for Romani people at Lety. After laying wreaths at the monument to the victims of the Lety camp, those present will be addressed by Czech Prime Minister Jiří Rusnok, by the chair of the Romani Society of Moravia, Karel Holomek, and by a representative of the German Embassy, Robert Klinke.  full story

Czech intelligence service: Ordinary citizens' anti-Romani sentiments more dangerous than right-wing extremists

Prague, 30.7.2013 20:09, (ROMEA) The Czech Republic's Security Information Service (Bezpečnostní informační služba - BIS) has released its quarterly report on developments in the extremist scene on its website. The report says anti-Romani sentiment among a segment of the public could pose a greater problem for state security than small groups of right-wing extremists do.  full story

Czech Republic: Let's Block the Marches (Blokujeme!) platform wants to stop anti-Romani marches

Prague, 30.7.2013 15:33, (ROMEA) Individuals and organizations are demanding that the Government of the Czech Republic, municipal representatives, and other politicians commit themselves to stopping the anti-Romani marches now being regularly organized by neo-Nazis throughout the entire country. Signatories to the declaration are also turning to civil society to stop the marches as well.  full story

Czech Republic: Residents of Plzeň complaining about members of the Romani minority

Plzeň, 30.7.2013 2:58, (ROMEA) In Plzeň complaints regarding coexistence are being registered about some members of the Romani minority. The Czech News Agency says the complaints concern the courtyard inside Plachého and Korandova streets, which is the town's only socially excluded locality.  full story

Central Bohemian Vice-Governor congratulates mother of the Czech Republic's first-ever quintuplets with a check

Prague, 30.7.2013 1:30, (ROMEA) The website of the Central Bohemian Regional Authority reported on 26 July 2013 that the mother of the first quintuplets ever born in the Czech Republic, Alexandra Kiňová, has been visited by Zdeněk Syblík, the Central Bohemian Regional Vice-Governor in charge of social affairs, in order to congratulate her on her unprecedented good fortune. Siblings Alex, Deniel, Martin, Michael and Terezka were born on 2 June 2013 at the Institute for Mothers and Children in Prague-Podolí.  full story

Czech Republic: Sentences in "machete attack" appealed, longest is 16 years

Liberec, 30.7.2013 0:12, (ROMEA) Today the Regional Court in Liberec sentenced three of the five assailants from the "machete attack" case in Nový Bor (Česká Lípa district) for attempted murder, while the other two were convicted of grievous bodily harm and battery. The sentences ranged from three to 16 years in prison.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani man risks life to save infant threatened at knifepoint

Tábor, 29.7.2013 23:04, (ROMEA) Táborský deník (Tábor Daily) reports that Stanislav Kováč of the IMPULS Tábor civic association recently displayed great courage when he stood up to a drunken man threatening adults and children with a long knife in Husovo Park in the town of Tábor. The drunken man walked up to Irena Dzurková as she was sitting on a bench with her daughter and younger brother and asked her for a cigarette.  full story

Czech Republic: Equal Opportunities Party protests neo-Nazi march at scene of 2009 arson attack

Plzeň, 29.7.2013 18:01, (ROMEA) The Equal Opportunities Party (Strana rovných příležitostí - SRP) says it is unacceptable for radical militant extremists to march through localities predominantly inhabited by Romani people. The party has issued the statement in response to a series of anti-Romani assemblies and marches being organized by the Czech Lions, a group connected to the newly-established Democratic Worker's Party (Demokratická strana pracujících - DSP) which seems to be profiling itself as a sort of ultra-right People's Militia (Lidové milice).  full story

videoCzech Republic: About 30 neo-Nazis gather in Prague, antifascists counter-protest

Prague, 27.7.2013 0:01, (ROMEA) Roughly 30 right-wing radicals gathered today after 5 PM at the Černý Most housing estate in Prague. The event was organized by a group called the "Czech Lions" (Čeští lvi), who are a sort of ultra-right People's Militia connected to the new right-wing extremist Democratic Workers' Party (Demokratická strana pracujících - DSP).  full story

Czech Republic: Prague 14 calls on citizens not to interfere with neo-Nazi assembly and march today

České Budějovice/Prague, 26.7.2013 22:58, (ROMEA) A neo-Nazi march is scheduled to take place today in Prague. Organizers did not announce it to City Hall but only to the local municipality of Prague 14, which means the event was not listed in the online database of announced assemblies.  full story

Czech-Roma association calls for Romani people to counter-protest anti-Romani marches

Ústí nad Labem, 26.7.2013 17:54, (ROMEA) On 20 July the Konexe association issued the following call to all Romani people in the Czech Republic out of concern over the violent anti-Romani marches planned to take place throughout the country. News server Romea.cz publishes it here in full translation:  full story

videoRoma Inclusion: What We Can Learn from Croatia

Zagreb, 26.7.2013 13:43, (ROMEA) Call me a starry-eyed idealist, but I believe schools are the primary institution in society where we should learn to live together. As a parent, I’ve never seen the point of teaching kids how to divide numbers or how not to split infinitives if we can’t first teach them how to love and treasure each other’s differences. For far too many of Europe’s Roma children, however, schools are still places far more adept at dividing communities than uniting them.  full story

Denitsa Mihaylova: A Bulgarian woman proud of her Roma origin

Sofia, 26.7.2013 13:30, (ROMEA) Denitsa Mihaylova is the first and, so far, the only woman of Roma origin who works at the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She speaks to her 5-year-old daughter Madona like an adult, demanding that she take decisions on her own, including what to order from a menu full of tempting dishes.  full story

ERRC Condemns Hitler Hate Speech Against Roma

Budapest, 26.7.2013 11:49, (ROMEA) The European Roma Rights Centre strongly condemns a French politician’s recent remark about Roma suggesting that “Maybe Hitler did not kill enough.” The comment, made by Gilles Bourdouleix, an MP and Mayor of the western town of Cholet, is completely unacceptable. Unfortunately, this incident does not reflect an isolated position. This is just the latest example of racist and discriminatory remarks by French politicians targeting Roma and Traveller communities and individuals in France.  full story

Robert Rustem: Le Point’s editor should resign after ‘Hitler and the Roma’ poll stunt

Brussels, 26.7.2013 11:19, (ROMEA) With breath-taking speed, Europe moves from one ugly episode to the next in its summer rampage against Roma people.  full story

Valeriu Nicolae: Blacklisted – the new low of the European Commission

Bucharest, 26.7.2013 10:33, (ROMEA) Last week a close friend told me that the European Commission blacklisted the NGO she works for. I used to work for the same NGO in the past. The members of the network are people I know for a long time- people I am proud to have worked with- committed and hardworking.  full story