World

France: Attack with firearms and Molotov cocktails against Roma over two nights - seven hospitalized, including a teenager

19.8.2016 14:58 During the late night hours of Monday and early morning hours of Tuesday a group of assailants threw Molotov cocktails into one of the biggest Romani encampments in Marseille, France. More attacks targeted the same location during Tuesday night and the early morning hours of Wednesday.  full story

European Court of Human Rights: Slovakia failed to investigate Roma youth's allegations of police brutality

19.8.2016 13:47 The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has partially ruled in favor of a complaint filed by a Romani teenager against the Slovak state authorities. The international court decided that Slovakia did not sufficiently investigate the teen's allegations six years ago that he was subjected to police brutality.  full story

Germany recalls last year's violent clashes between police and those opposed to refugees in Heidenau

18.8.2016 18:28 One year ago, Germany was shaken by the violence that played itself out in Heidenau. On the nights of 21, 22 and 23 August 2015, the small Saxon town was awaiting the arrival of hundreds of refugees for whom an accommodation facility had been quickly prepared there.  full story

German Chancellor: Islamist terrorism not the fault of asylum-seekers

18.8.2016 14:49 Reuters reports that German Chancellor Angela Merkel said today that Germany has had problems with Islamist terrorism for many years. The arrival of refugees in the country is not related to its current problem with such extremists.  full story

Slovak Government wants battle against extremism to be more effective

18.8.2016 13:50 Yesterday the Slovak Government approved proposing amendments to the criminal law and the code of criminal procedure in order to more effectively battle manifestations of extremism. The Slovak Justice Ministry announced that only one court will render decisions about such crimes in future, among other innovations.  full story

Analysis: Czech businessman wages disinformation campaign from Dubai to increase appetite for authoritarianism

18.8.2016 9:04 Pro-Russian, conspiratorial, disinformation websites have recently become an established, well-known element of the online Czech media environment. Czech-language social networking sites are also involved in disseminating the uniquely "guaranteed truths" produced by these pro-Russian sites.  full story

videoGerman Vice-Chancellor and Social Democratic chair gives neo-Nazis the finger

17.8.2016 11:00 German Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, who chairs the Social Democratic Party (SPD), raised his middle finger last week in the direction of neo-Nazi demonstrators protesting him during an election campaign appearance in Lower Saxony. Video footage of the incident, which happened last Friday, has been posted online (see below).  full story

Turkey faces criticism for planned abolition of punishment for the sexual abuse of children

16.8.2016 16:21 On the basis of a request from a lower court, Turkey's Constitutional Court decided last month to abolish a provision regulating the punishment of sexual crimes committed against children younger than 15. The district court had complained that current legislation does not distinguish between age groups and treats children between age 4 and age 14 equivalently.  full story

Daniela Cincibusová: Reflections on a visit to a former death factory

16.8.2016 9:48 Oświęcim, a small town in southern Poland, is infamous as the location of Auschwitz, the Nazis' biggest concentration and extermination camp not just for Jewish people, but also for Romani people and anybody who did not conform. Many innocent people died there.  full story

German domestic intelligence service concerned ultra-right groups might form

13.8.2016 9:02 Given the increasing number of attacks on immigrants in Germany, it cannot be ruled out that ultra-right groups could arise there that would proceed with perpetrating such violence in an organized fashion. Hans-Georg Maassen, head of the Federal Office for Protection of the Constitution (BfV), informed the Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) of those concerns yesterday.  full story

Most Iraqi refugees first brought to the Czech Republic have received church asylum in Germany

11.8.2016 15:02 The group of Iraqi citizens who first came to the Czech Republic thanks to a special program run by the Generation 21 Foundation will ultimately remain in Germany. Most of the asylum-seekers from the 25-member group have received church asylum in the Saxon community of Herrnhut.  full story

Roman Čonka: On the crisis of Romani media in Slovakia

9.8.2016 17:49 The media market in Slovakia is small, but the Romani media market is even smaller. What's worse, the prospects of its developing and stabilizing are nowhere in sight.  full story

Czech Philharmonic joins Romani musician Ida Kelarová and Čhavorenge choir for tour of Šluknov foothills

9.8.2016 12:09 The "Romano drom" summer school for selected, talented Romani children from socially excluded localities is being held this year in the Šluknov foothills of the Czech Republic. A total of 60 Romani children from the Czech Republic and Slovakia will experience two inspiring weeks full of dance and music under the direction of Ida Kelarová, her artistic team, and musicians from the Czech Philharmonic.  full story

Slovak Interior Ministry says police raid on Romani settlement was correct, victims appeal to Constitutional Court

8.8.2016 16:53 News server Romovia.SME.sk reports that the Slovak Interior Ministry's Inspection Authority has halted the prosecution of the police officers involved in a raid on a Romani settlement in Moldava nad Bodvou in the summer of 2013. Romani residents of the settlement have now turned to the Constitutional Court with their complaint about the raid.
 full story

Spain: 80 years since the martyrdom of Cefferino Gimenéz Malla

8.8.2016 14:51 Tomorrow, 9 August, marks 80 years since the martyrdom of the first Romani person ever to be beatified, Cefferino Gimenéz Malla, also known as "El Pelé" ("the brave one"). Let's review what is known about the unusual life of this unique figure.  full story

Europe: Anti-refugee initiatives spreading lies about German justice system after Munich shooting

8.8.2016 13:07 Yet another manipulation of the facts is making the rounds online, this time about the attack perpetrated on 22 July in Munich, Germany. Ali David Sonboly, a racist supporter of the ultra-right, murdered nine people during a shooting spree on that day.  full story

Belgium: Machete-wielding attacker harms two policewomen, so-called Islamic State claims responsibility

8.8.2016 8:46 A man wielding a machete injured two policewomen on Saturday in the Belgium town of Charleroi. Another member of the police force shot the attacker at the scene and the man later succumbed to his injuries in hospital.  full story

Czech-language online hoax alleging Prague terrorist attack now spreading among Slovaks and stealing Facebook passwords

7.8.2016 11:28 A fake news item has begun to spread in Slovakia among users of the Facebook social networking site alleging that a terrorist attack has taken place in Prague. Its actual purpose is to access the login data to people's Facebook accounts.  full story

France: Black youth dies in police custody, sparking riot, media wrongly attributes violence to Islamism

7.8.2016 9:38 Last week a street gang set a public bus on fire in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis. Some international media, as well as anti-Islamic websites in the Czech Republic, ascribed the attack to Islamist radicals and alleged that the youths shouted "Allahu Akbar!" ("God is great!") during the attack.  full story

Slovak accommodation facility refuses students from Turkey, Foreign Ministry says that is discriminatory

5.8.2016 14:57 An accommodation facility in Bratislava recently refused to accommodate students from Turkey and is being criticized by both the Slovak Foreign Ministry and the
Turkish Embassy. The facility owners said that for safety reasons they do not accommodate "people from Turkey and Arab countries".  full story