Czech Republic

Commentary: An oasis of green and white has been flooded with Brownshirt mud

14.9.2016 15:27 The Bohemians Praha 1905 football club, based in the Vršovice quarter of Prague, is wearing a coat of shame today. Actually, we all are.  full story

Czech football club backed down to racists within its own fan base over documentary screening

14.9.2016 6:53 After the Bohemians Praha 1905 football club decided to cancel the premiere of the documentary film "FC Roma" by Rozálie Kohoutová and Tomáš Bojar, the news server iSport.cz published an interview with the boss of the Bohemians Fan Club, Luďek Provazník, about the issue. It was the Fan Club that insisted on the cancellation.  full story

Czech Republic: Hundreds of Romani people will go on pilgrimage to Svatý Kopeček

13.9.2016 19:56 This coming Saturday,hundreds of Romani people from all over the Czech Republic and Slovakia will make their traditional pilgrimage to Svatý Kopeček near the city of Olomouc. Pilgrims will set out for the Basilica from the nearby village of Samotiška and will attend a mass officiated by a Romani priest at Svatý Kopeček as well as other planned events.
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Czech Republic: Babylonfest, a parade of national minorities, begins in Brno today

13.9.2016 13:34 Babylonfest, a festival and parade by the national minorities living in the Czech Republic's second-largest city, will begin today in Brno. The ninth annual festival will run through Saturday.  full story

"Roma Rising" exhibition featuring portraits of Roma from Czech Republic to open in Kladno

13.9.2016 7:12 On Thursday, 15 September at 17:00 the exhibition "Roma Rising" will open at the Sládečkovo Vlastivědné Muzeum (the Sládeček Museum of Local History) in the Czech town of Kladno and will remain on view until 27 November 2016. The exhibition features portraits of Roma from the Czech Republic who have managed to make it in mainstream society and honors their bravery and determination.  full story

Czech football club cancels screening of documentary about Romani footballers after fans threaten violence

12.9.2016 19:20 Because of serious threats made by a group of their fans, the Bohemians Praha 1905 football club has decided to cancel tomorrow's scheduled premiere of the film "FC Roma" The documentary by Rozálie Kohoutová and Tomáš Bojar has been nominated for a Czech Lion award and has already won the Pavel Koutecký Prize.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani police officer says work with children is the most important thing

12.9.2016 17:01 News server Novinky.cz has published a report about Ladislav Horváth (age 33), one of a very few Romani people to work as a state police officer in the Czech Republic. He set out to become a member of law enforcement 11 years ago and the profession still fulfills him today.  full story

Czech officials disperse assembly for disparaging Islam

12.9.2016 16:06 Police dispersed a public event held yesterday called "To Mecca with Humor" and convened by the anti-Islamic Martin Konvička Initiative (IMK), which was held in front of the Embassy of Saudi Arabia on Korunovační Street in Prague and attended by approximately 50 Islamophobes. Bureaucrats from Prague City Hall called on police to disperse the gathering.  full story

Ida Kelarová: Czech Police did not come when we called the emergency line - they neither helped nor protected the children

12.9.2016 7:28 Ida Kelarová disagrees with some of the conclusions drawn by the internal affairs department of the Ústecký Regional Police Department and is shocked by how the Czech Police are introducing confusion into the description of how she and others reported the aggressive, racist behavior of a resident of Jiřetín pod Jedlovou against those attending her Romano drom summer arts school from 30 July - 13 August there in collaboration with the world-famous Czech Philharmonic. "I insist that the police never came to investigate after we reported the incidents by calling the 158 number," she told news server Romea.cz on 10 September.  full story

Czech Republic: Police propose charging four neo-Nazis for assaulting demonstrators supporting refugee reception

11.9.2016 18:57 The Prague Police have proposed charging just four people for their role in a February incident on Thunovská Street in Prague during which a group of masked men assaulted demonstrators marching in support of migrants. Police have halted the prosecution of a fifth person accused in the incident.  full story

Analysis: How the Czech media handled the Vice PM's anti-Roma election stunt

11.9.2016 9:44 Why did the Czech Vice Prime Minister visit Varnsdorf?  full story

Czech Police confirm local officers did not proceed absolutely correctly in case of gunfire near Romani children's camp

9.9.2016 10:54 Detectives have again opened the case of the warning shots fired into the air near a children's camp in the town of Jiřetín pod Jedlovou (Děčín district) where Romani children were spending time this summer. The initial approach taken by police in the case was not absolutely correct.  full story

Commentary: The pigs at Lety and Babiš shooting himself in the foot

8.9.2016 14:04 From 2007-2009 I served as Czech Education Minister, and together with [Human Rights Minister] Michael Kocáb we attempted, among other things, to advocate for the removal of the pig farm from the site at Lety u Písku. We were not concerned with just that location, but also with the site at Hodonín u Kunštátu, where a similar camp ran during the war, one that is remembered even less than Lety is.  full story

Czech Vice PM calls Roma "parasites" during his visit to Roma Holocaust site

8.9.2016 7:45 During the past few days we have witnessed an absolute masterwork of manipulation and the populist abuse of power in the Czech Republic. Czech Vice Prime Minister and Finance Minister Andrej Babiš is a political phenomenon who apparently still has a lot to say to the country.  full story

Czech Police arrest drunk giving Nazi salute and shouting "Death to Gypsies"

7.9.2016 8:22 A drunken man giving the Nazi salute and shouting racist slogans was arrested last Saturday before noon on Vodičkova Street by the Prague 1 Municipal Police. The case is being investigated by the Police of the Czech Republic.  full story

Civil society members of Czech Government's Roma advisory body outraged by Vice PM's remarks about Roma Holocaust site

7.9.2016 7:49 The Romani civil society members of the Czech Government Council on Romani Minority Affairs are outraged by the Czech Vice Prime Minister's recent remarks about the former so-called "Gypsy camp" at Lety u Písku. Members of the council have called on Andrej Babiš, who is also Finance Minister, to keep his publicly-declared promise and arrange financing for the purchase of the pig farm now located on the site.  full story

Czech Vice PM pays his respects at the Lety memorial to Romani Holocaust victims - but no Roma are invited

6.9.2016 12:45 Czech Vice Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, the chair of the ANO movement, paid his respects today at the site of the former WWII-era concentration camp for Romani people at Lety in the Písek district and once again rejected allegations that he denied the Holocaust in remarks he made last week. He visited the site after a photojournalist for Aktuálně.cz stated last week that he overheard the Vice PM telling locals that it was a "lie" to call Lety a concentration camp.  full story

Roma in the Czech news - from the perspective of a Romani media trainee

6.9.2016 10:48 During the summer those attending the Media Training run by the ROMEA organization had the opportunity to visit the places where news and reporting are created in the Czech Republic. Under the direction of Romani journalists Richard Samko (Czech Television), Patrik Banga (iDNES.cz) and Tomáš Bystrý (Czech Radio), they got to test in practice with it means to be a journalist.  full story

Czech Republic: Owners of pig farm on Roma Holocaust site are open to selling their facility

6.9.2016 9:40 The owners of a pig farm in Lety (Písek district) do not rule out the possibility that they might sell their facility located at the site of a former WWII-era concentration camp for Romani people. The owners are willing to negotiate about exchanging their facility for another one appropriate for the raising of pigs, Jan Čech, vice-chair of the board of AGPI, which owns the farm, has told the Czech News Agency.  full story

Czech Human Rights Minister in talks to buy pig farm on Roma Holocaust site for two years now

6.9.2016 7:40 Responding to a request from Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier, the Czech Government has decided to no longer keep secret a "Restricted" resolution from 21 March 2016 regarding the future of the remembrance site at Lety u Písku. Olga Jeřábková, spokesperson for the minister, informed news server Romea.cz of the decision on 5 September.  full story