News

Germany will try to ban extremist NPD once again

Berlin, 7.12.2012 0:30, (ROMEA) After meeting on 5 December, the Interior Ministers of all 16 German states recommended initiating a new attempt to have the courts ban the ultra-right National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD). It is not clear whether the federal government will also join such a step. The first attempt to ban the NPD foundered at the Constitutional Court in 2003 and concerns predominate that the failure of another attempt could just strengthen the extremists.  full story

Czech police errors result in acquittal of neo-Nazis who assaulted Romani men

Hradec Králové, 6.12.2012 22:33, (ROMEA) An appeals court in Hradec Králové has rejected the appeal of state prosecutor Alexandr Pumprla in the case of Romani men who were beaten up in Nový Bydžov last year and has left intact the acquittal handed down by the district court. "The reason was lack of evidence. The blame primarily lies with police, who performed the suspect identification procedure poorly," David Oplatek of the In IUSTITIA organization, told news server Romea.cz.  full story

Romani scholar: Czech press reports on Romani origins oversimplify, promote stereotypes

Prague, 5.12.2012 17:57, (ROMEA) The Czech Press Agency has published an article on the genetic origins of Romani people in Europe which seems to be very imprecise. According to the wire service, Romani people in Europe are descended from the "Dalit caste" in India, which reportedly represents the lowest level in the professional caste hierarchy there. The ancestors of today's Romani people are said to have left the Indian subcontinent 1 000 years ago. The British newspaper The Daily Telegraph has also reported that these claims have been proven by a new genetic study.  full story

Czech Hockey Fans' Fair Play Charter now addresses racism

Czech Republic, 5.12.2012 16:30, (ROMEA) Hockey clubs in the Czech Extraliga have published the Hockey Fans' Fair Play Charter (Charta fair play hokejového fanouška) on their web pages condemning racism at stadiums and in everyday life. Hockey fans now have the opportunity to sign the charter as well.  full story

Greek neo-Nazis again attack immigrants, injuring one

Athens, Greece, 4.12.2012 16:59, (ROMEA) Greek news servers reported yesterday that a group of Greek neo-Nazis has once again attacked immigrant stall-keepers in Athens. One victim suffered injuries and was transported to hospital.  full story

videoCzech Govt Agency for Social Inclusion reports positive results

Most, 4.12.2012 16:34, (ROMEA) The Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion has issued the following press release:  full story

videoGreece: Bomb explodes in front of Golden Dawn headquarters

Athens, Greece, 4.12.2012 16:06, (ROMEA) Reuters reports that a bomb exploded early this morning in front of the headquarters of the neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn, which is seated in parliament. No one was injured in the explosion in a suburb of Athens, which caused only material damage.  full story

videoCzech Republic: How Ústí nad Labem treats the poorest of the poor

Ústí nad Labem, Předlice, 4.12.2012 0:26, (ROMEA) Ústí nad Labem: An inversion layer hangs over the streets. I remember one like it from the days when there was mining in this north Bohemian region, and when much more brown coal was burned there than is today. Now the hard-to-breathe gases are returning to the region, reportedly because local chemical factories are starting up again. The town is grey, with few colors, and even fewer smiles among the passers-by.  full story

Spiegel: Rhetoric of the extreme right in Hungary has hit rock bottom

Budapest, Hungary, 3.12.2012 17:17, (ROMEA) Czech Radio has published a translation from German into Czech of an article published online by the German magazine Speigel about the ultra-right in Hungary. The magazine reports that Hungarian MP Márton Gyöngyösi of the extreme-right party "Movement for a Better Hungary" (Jobbik) declared last week in parliament that since citizens of Jewish origin pose a "security risk", a nationwide list of them should be compiled. "His statements prompted an enormous wave of indignation, but the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán distanced itself from the MP very slowly," Spiegel reports.  full story

Czech tabloid asks singers about photo of them giving the Nazi salute

Prague, 3.12.2012 16:04, (ROMEA) The Sunday edition of the Blesk tabloid in the Czech Republic reports that it has managed to acquire photographs of the stars who hosted this year's "Český slavík" (Czech Nightingale) awards ceremony, Lucie Bílá (46) and Daniel Landa (44), giving the Nazi salute. The snapshot is said to be an unaltered original and can be seen at http://www.blesk.cz/clanek/celebrity/186516/lucie-bila-a-daniel-landa-proc-jsme-hajlovali.html  full story

Czech Senator Tomio Okamura's antigypsy words of wisdom

Prague, 2.12.2012 20:43, (ROMEA) It is simply not possible to put together a list of all of Tomio Okamura's immortal remarks. News server Aktuálně.cz tried publishing a selection of the raciest of them recently. We at Romea.cz borrowed some of those and added others so as not to deprive our readers of the experience of following the words of this senator who claims he is neither populist, nor racist, nor xenophobic.  full story

Prague conference notes progress on Holocaust restitution

Prague, 1.12.2012 19:43, (ROMEA) First Deputy Foreign Minister Jiří Schneider and Stuart Eizenstat, an adviser to the US Government on Holocaust questions, told journalists in Prague Thursday that an international conference assessing the options for the return of property stolen during the Holocaust has noted general progress on the issue of restitution. However, Eizenstat and Schneider believe the correction of wrongs committed during the Nazi era is not yet over and there is a need to accelerate the restitution given the advanced age of the victims.  full story

Czech "practical schools" won't close, petition is causing hysteria

Prague, 30.11.2012 23:20, (ROMEA) News server Aktuálně.cz reports that tens of thousands of people have signed a petition against closing the "practical primary schools" that was delivered to representatives of the Czech Education Ministry last Friday. The actual situation is much less dramatic than the sensation stirred up around the alleged closure of the "practical primary schools". Both the Czech Government and the ministry say they are counting on such schools continuing to exist.  full story

Czech ministries, municipal govt pass the buck on Přednádraží street

Ostrava, 30.11.2012 17:20, (ROMEA) The ProAlt Ostrava organization and the SOS Přednádraží collective have issued the following press release, which news server Romea.cz publishes in full translation below:  full story

Czech Radio: Businesses get rich on residential hotels for the poor

Ústí nad Labem, 30.11.2012 1:10, (ROMEA) Czech Radio has reported that the business dealings of those who own the residential hotels that charge disproportionately high fees for single rooms, often featuring showers and toilets located in common hallways and restrictions on who can visit their guests, could easily be called trafficking in poverty. The owners of these businesses rely on the fact that their clients are people who cannot find normal rental housing and that the state will contribute toward paying their bills. For most people living in such places, they are the last resort when fleeing the ghetto.  full story

Slovaks selling land cheap to Romani settlement residents

Slovakia, 30.11.2012 0:26, (ROMEA) News server iDNES.cz reports that the Slovaks are contemplating what to do with illegal Romani settlements in their country. One such settlement is in the village of Krásnohorské Podhradie, where part of the land is owned by neo-Nazi Marián Kotleba, who has threatened to demolish all of the small Romani homes currently on his property. Now Erika Gažiková, a member of the Romani community there, made enough extra money gathering berries and mushrooms this summer to purchase the land around her home in the Romani settlement from the village, as have other Romani residents.  full story

Prague 5 dead set on closing integrated school no matter the cost

Prague, 29.11.2012 22:19, (ROMEA) By all indications, the Grafická Primary School in the Smíchov quarter of Prague is well on its way to becoming one of only a few institutions in the country where inclusive education is not only practiced daily, but is accepted and supported by the faculty, parents and pupils themselves. The Prague 5 Municipal Department now wants to close the school.  full story

Czech Republic: Open letter from Romani evacuees in usurious residential hotel

Ústí nad Labem, Předlice, 29.11.2012 16:49, (ROMEA) The situation in the Czech town of Ústí nad Labem is becoming unsustainable. The first people have been evacuated from the Předlice quarter there and the same fate probably awaits others. The town itself is mostly to blame for the situation, as it sold buildings in the quarter to private owners, some of who have no interest in maintaining them. As some residents have informed news server Romea.cz, some of the buildings probably belong to banks by now because their owners have defaulted on loans using the buildings as collateral. Structural engineers have found flaws in almost 30 buildings in the Předlice quarter, so more evacuations may lie ahead.  full story

Romani activist seeks seat on Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes

Prague, 29.11.2012 16:32, (ROMEA) Čeněk Růžička, the chair of the Committee for the Redress of the Roma Holocaust (Výbor pro odškodnění romského holocaustu) is one of the candidates for a seat on the board of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes (Ústav pro studium totalitních režimů - ÚSTR). The Czech Senate will choose the institute's board members during a session in December. A total of 33 candidates have applied.  full story

Hungary: Jobbik MP wants to compile a list of Jewish politicians

Budapest, Hungary, 29.11.2012 1:46, (ROMEA) An MP with the chauvinist (radical nationalist) political formation called Movement for a Better Hungary (Jobbik) has declared in the Hungarian Parliament that he wants to create a list of Jewish MPs and members of the cabinet. His proposal was condemned by the Hungarian Government. The international Raoul Wallenberg Foundation has also protested against it.  full story