News

Sweden: Racist murderer of immigrants gets life in prison

Stockholm, Sweden, 25.11.2012 21:22, (ROMEA) The racist assailant who terrorized the inhabitants of the southern Swedish town of Malmö for two years has been sentenced to life in prison. Peter Mangs (age 40) shot at dark-skinned immigrants and long evaded police despite an intensive manhunt for him. Deutsche Presse-Agentur reports that he was arrested in 2010 and has now been sentenced on two counts of murder, five counts of attempted murder, and three counts of assault. The court also ruled that Mangs must pay the families of his victims compensation in the amount of 1.2 million Swedish crowns.  full story

Greek neo-Nazi party may be linked to planned attack on mosque

Athens, Greece, 24.11.2012 20:37, (ROMEA) The Greek newspaper Kathimerini reports that the Greek neo-Nazis who won seats in Parliament this year are evidently linked to a planned Molotov cocktail attack on a mosque there. Proof of this is the case of a 22-year-old man who was recently arrested in central Greece and told police he had planned to carry out such an attack on the basis of instructions received from the radical Golden Dawn party. The party had earned his "gratitude" mafia-style by finding him work.  full story

Czech teachers say Romani community not interested in school

Ostrava, 24.11.2012 20:16, (ROMEA) The parents of some Romani schoolchildren in Ostrava took to the streets there recently to protest in front of the New Town Hall. Some of the problems bothering them are the fact that Romani children are not offered the same conditions for education as other children, that they are discriminated against and excluded from mainstream schools, and that they are educated in Romani-only classes and schools. Czech news server Deník.cz has now published a report on the negative and positive experiences of those who teach Romani people in the schools. News server Romea.cz presents it here in translation.  full story

Commentary: Sleeping Czech HR Commissioner wakes up too late

Prague, 23.11.2012 22:16, (ROMEA) In the most recent issue of the Insider weekly, Czech Government Human Rights Commissioner Monika Šimůnková has overcome her own limits and decided to take the unusual step of publicly speaking out against planned cuts to the state administration. Surprisingly, what is at issue is criticism of the Human Rights Section, which the Commissioner manages, not a more systemic critique of the mindless cuts across the entire public sphere, as one might expect.  full story

Romani people, remember your right to dignity!

Prague, 23.11.2012 21:18, (ROMEA) Do you come home from work after sundown every day only to be met with mistrust at every turn? Do you fall asleep to news reports complaining about our "fellow citizens on welfare"? Don't feel like "adapting" yourself to the general mood of indifference and suspicion? SPEAK UP!  full story

Romani student had to leave Czech schools for success

Prague, 23.11.2012 20:46, (ROMEA) News server Novinky.cz has published the following interview with Magdaléna Karvayová, a Romani woman who has made it to higher education despite enduring discrimination because of her skin color in the Czech Republic. From an early age she faced hatred, never had many friends at school, and was slighted by her teachers even though her grades showed she was a gifted pupil. She enrolled in an international academic high school in order to escape that unpleasant environment and enjoyed success there. For a long time no one believed she could do it, but in the end she has blazed a viable trail for her younger brothers to follow. News server Romea.cz publishes the interview in translation below (the original, in Czech only, is available at http://www.novinky.cz/veda-skoly/285216-romka-zazila-ostrou-sikanu-presto-se-dostala-na-gymnazium-a-ucitele-prekvapila.html).  full story

Thousands sign Czech petition for "practical schools"

Prague, 23.11.2012 19:42, (ROMEA) Some parents and teachers are defending the Czech Republic's former "special schools", which are still attended in large numbers by Romani children today, including children who are not disabled. A petition to preserve the schools has received more than 75 000 signatures. Authors of the petition plan to deliver it to the Czech Education Ministry today.  full story

Poland: Jewish cemetery desecrated in Łódź

Warsaw, 21.11.2012 20:53, (ROMEA) Unidentified vandals have knocked over about 20 tombstones in the Jewish cemetery in the Polish town of Łódź. Agence France-Presse reports that representatives of the local Jewish community there say most of the tombstones will be renovated soon thanks to foreign sponsors.  full story

Czech mayor, fearing theft, rejects Romani volunteers

Nový Bor, 21.11.2012 20:21, (ROMEA) The town hall in Nový Bor has rejected a group of Romani residents who have offered to clean up a local cemetery before winter. The mayor is afraid they would steal something.  full story

Advisor to Romanian PM: "Romani people must change their mentality"

Europe, 21.11.2012 19:04, (ROMEA) Romani people must change their mentality and financial gifts don't help them. Those claims were recently made by the head of the Romanian Government Office for Romani Affairs in an exclusive interview for Czech Radio.  full story

Romani people deported from France say they are starving in Romania

Timisoara, Romania, 21.11.2012 18:09, (ROMEA) Czech Radio reports that Romani people who have been deported from France to Romania are saying they will die of hunger if they stay there. They blame the Romanian authorities and view the decisions of several EU countries to forcibly deport them back to their native country as based in populism  full story

Czech Republic: Poll shows mostly negative views of Romani people

Prague, 21.11.2012 17:14, (ROMEA) Most of the Czech public (71 %) holds a negative view of Romani people, a proportion of the population that has slightly fallen since April of this year. On the question of whether those polled fear Romani people, the public is divided into almost completely equal camps (43 % are afraid of Romani people, 44 % are not). Not quite one-fifth of the citizens polled (16 %) expressed sympathy for movements or people who use violence against members of the Romani minority. On the other hand, a two-thirds majority claimed to reject such behavior. Since last year the number of people representing that opinion has significantly risen.  full story

Czech victim of "machete attack" reportedly has neo-Nazi past, knew attacker

Nový Bor/Prague, 20.11.2012 23:39, (ROMEA) New facts are coming to light in the case of last year's brawl in the "Pivní pomoc" bar in the town of Nový Bor, which the Czech media refer to as the "machete attack" case. Defense attorney Klára Samková has claimed the conflict was not the first between the two groups involved, and that assertion has been upheld. One of the defendants, Antonín Sinu, and one of the victims have faced off at least one time previously during a different mass brawl, when neo-Nazis were celebrating the birthday of Adolf Hitler in a restaurant in Nový Bor. Their involvement in that incident has been confirmed by Regional State Prosecutor Radim Kadlček.  full story

Poland: Breivik-inspired terrorist attack by antisemitic xenophobe foiled

Warsaw, 20.11.2012 22:32, (ROMEA) The Office of the Public Prosecutor of Cracow has announced that Polish police have foiled a planned bomb attack against high representatives of the country. The would-be assassin has been arrested in the southern city of Cracow.  full story

Estonia: Denial of Stalin-era deportations could become a crime

Tallinn, 20.11.2012 17:42, (ROMEA) The Estonian Justice Ministry has prepared a bill that would make it a crime to deny the Stalin-ordered deportations which affected thousands of people in the country during the Soviet era. The Delfi press agency, based in the Baltics, reports that Estonian courts would be able to sanction the approval or denial of the deportations to Siberia during the rule of dictator Joseph Stalin with prison sentences of up three years without the possibility of parole.  full story

Czech tabloid's skewed reporting almost launches anti-Romani protests

Prague, 20.11.2012 16:57, (ROMEA) The Prostějovský Večerník, a real local tabloid, has published a news item that manipulates its facts so as to instigate anti-Romani sentiment as much as possible. According to the report, Romani assailants allegedly attacked Robert Jedlička, a hockey player for the Prostějov team (the Jestřáby) near the Varna discotheque in the town of Olomouc. Jedlička ended up with a broken nose and brain concussion. The brawl was allegedly preceded by several Romani people shouting foul insults and making vulgar gestures at Jedlička's girlfriend and an acquaintance of hers.  full story

USA warns its citizens of racist violence in Greece

Athens, Greece, 19.11.2012 16:52, (ROMEA) The Embassy of the United States of America in Athens has warned US citizens traveling to Greece that racist violence has revived there. Agence France-Presse reports that NGOs are ascribing the violence to Golden Dawn, a neo-Nazi party currently seated in the Greek Parliament.  full story

Czech Republic: Neo-Nazis convene on Velvet Revolution anniversary

Brno, 19.11.2012 16:31, (ROMEA) Approximately 150 promoters of neo-Nazism marched through the center of Brno on Saturday 17 November chanting slogans against capitalism and the government and calling for "real democracy". Police spokesperson Petra Vedrová said no illegal behavior was observed. Officers monitored the event from a distance and there was no street deployment of their riot units.  full story

videoCzech Republic: Equal Opportunities Party chair addresses thousands

Prague, 19.11.2012 2:04, (ROMEA) On Saturday 17 November thousands of people attended a demonstration in the center of Prague convened by labor unions and several civic initiatives in order to protest against the Czech government. Speakers demanded the departure of the cabinet of Petr Nečas (Civic Democrats - ODS) and early elections.  full story

Discrimination in Holocaust Remembrance: The Ultimate Irony

New York, 19.11.2012 1:36, (ROMEA) How much more time will pass before Roma and Sinti (“Gypsies”) are sufficiently, publicly and regularly recognized as one of two ethnic groups slated for complete extermination in the Holocaust? What will it take for Holocaust education to include Romani persecution in a way that teaches not only who Romani people are, but also the very relevant continuities in European Nazi ideology?  full story