Czech Republic

Czech Interior Minister says migrants are "not an issue" in the Czech Republic

27.5.2016 7:41 Czech voters are mainly interested in parties that address the full spectrum of political issues, not in those that are narrowly focused just on the topic of migration, for example. That is the assessment of Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD), who made his remarks during a discussion about democracy.  full story

Czech Police arrest 16 activists from the Autonomous Social Center Klinika, charges being pressed

26.5.2016 6:24 Police intervened Tuesday at the Klinika building on Jeseniova Street in Prague and took a total of 16 activists from the community center there into custody after they refused to obey police instructions to leave the building. The activists are suspected of committing misdemeanors against public order because they refused to cooperate with officials, Prague Police spokesperson Tomáš Hulan posted to the police website.  full story

Czech Republic: New handbook advises foreign nationals on how to respond to hate

24.5.2016 10:31 Foreigners who become the target of hateful assaults in the Czech Republic can find advice on how to address their situations in a new handbook. Instructions on how to report a crime and what a criminal investigation and trial entails are described there.  full story

Czech Culture Minister: Govt, stockholders of pig farm negotiating to remove it from Romani Holocaust site

23.5.2016 17:06 The Czech weekly RESPEKT has published an interview by Kateřina Šafaříková with Czech Culture Minister Daniel Herman today. The former Catholic priest, MP for the Christian Democrats and director of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes discusses the topic of the pig farm on the site of the WWII-era camp for Romani prisoners at Lety by Písek, the issue of refugees, and his long personal friendships with military official Jiří Komorous and musician Daniel Landa.  full story

Romani hockey player listed in Czech edition of Forbes "30 under 30"

23.5.2016 9:12 Dominik Lakatoš, the 18-year-old hockey talent, has been chosen by the Czech edition of Forbes magazine as one of 30 young people who have reached the top of their professions before the age of 30. "At the age of two his parents put a football and a hockey stick in front of Dominik Lakatoš, he reached for the hockey stick and began his career in Kolín. In the seventh grade he began a series of big steps: Joining Liberec, playing as an adult, and his White Tigers uniform marked another jump to playing as one of the best forwards, thanks to which Liberec dominated the extraliga. Possibly the most important such advance happened at the end of last year, when the 18-year-old became the first Romani man on the Czech Republic's hockey team and played in the World Junior Championship for those 20 and younger in Finland," the Czech edition of Forbes writes about the young Romani hockey player.  full story

Čeněk Růžička: Relatives of the Romani victims of Nazism and survivors disagree with anti-refugee sentiment

20.5.2016 13:26 Čeněk Růžička, chair of the Committee for the Redress of the Romani Holocaust in the Czech Republic (VPORH), has criticized the absence of any systematic research into the causes and consequences of what happened to Romani and Sinti people during Nazism and the sharing of such information with the public. "For example: How did the arrest of the Romani families by the individual stations of the gendarmerie take place during the Protectorate era? What exactly was confiscated from each family, never to be returned? How did the collaboration of the Czech Protectorate’s Interior Ministry with the Nazis work when it came to the persecution of the Roma?" he asked during last week's commemorative ceremony, during which he also clearly spoke out against xenophobic populists.  full story

Members of Czech Freedom Fighters' Union distance themselves from national chair in petition, leadership defends his speech at Terezín

19.5.2016 15:27 The Central Committee of the Czech Freedom Fighters' Union (ČSBS) has expressed its agreement with the speech given by its chair, Jaroslav Vodička, at this year's commemorative ceremony at Terezín. Critics of the speech have called him xenophobic because of the remarks he made about refugees.  full story

Analysis: Refugees, the past, Chairman Vodička, and the Russian path of the Czech Fighters' Union

19.5.2016 13:03 Jaroslav Vodička, chair of the Czech Freedom Fighters' Union (ČSBS) caused a certain amount of disarray - as well as an engaging, spontaneous reaction of rejection from Chief Rabbi Karol Sidon - when he gave a speech at Sunday's commemorative assembly in Terezín that included generalizing, xenophobic blather about refugees. Because Mr Vodička echoes [Czech President] Miloš Zeman (whom he supported during his presidential campaign and with whom he has exchanged medals), and because recently the ČSBS has been joined not just by the President, but also by several other bizarre figures in public life here (the group's cell in Lidice is led by Jana Bobošíková, presidential spokesperson Ovčáček has joined, etc.), the impression might arise that the Union has only now, during these new conditions of rule by [Czech
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister] Babiš and Zeman, been infiltrated by nationalist/populist "elements" who have stolen it from the anti-Nazi resistance fighters and are now abusing it.  full story

KHAMORO 2016 in its 18th year - concerts, exhibitions, seminars, theater and much more

18.5.2016 19:10 The world's biggest and most famous Romani festival in the world, KHAMORO, is heading to Prague for the 18th time. It will run from 29 May to 4 June 2016 and, as in previous years, offers a broad range of cultural events.  full story

Opponents of Czech President reserve historically significant location to honor the democratic transition this November

18.5.2016 11:47 There is great interest in holding public events in Prague this year on the 17 November state holiday. On the very first day that it was possible to announce such events, Prague City Hall has recorded an enormous number of them, according to spokesperson Vít Hofman.  full story

Czech Republic: Canadian education expert says only an inclusive school is a really good school

18.5.2016 10:25 "Good teachers who get enough support can achieve even better results with their pupils than special educators in special schools can," said Gordon Porter, a leading expert on inclusive education, during an event on 16 May at the Canadian Embassy in Prague. Porter was invited to the Czech Republic by Open Society Fund Prague to share his many years of experience with inclusion in Canada.
 full story

Member of Czech Freedom Fighters' Union says chair did not speak for her during the Terezín commemoration

17.5.2016 15:02 As a member of the Founding Organization of the Czech Freedom Fighters' Union (ČSBS) in Kladno, I must respond to the speech given by the chair of the ČSBS, Jaroslav Vodička, on behalf of all the members of the ČSBS during the official speeches at the Terezín commemoration on 15 May 2016. Speaking as a representative of the ČSBS, Vodička called for protecting our borders against refugees and for the protection of our culture.  full story

Czech Govt Agency for Social Inclusion reviews local group working with Romani children after its head attacks the HateFree Culture initiative

17.5.2016 14:00 The Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion perceives the current situation regarding remarks made by the chair of the Lampa organization, Jiří Hanzl, to the media and on social networking sites to be serious and will propose an agenda item for discussing this situation during the next meeting of its Local Partnership in the town of Ralsko. Agency Director Radek Jiránek announced the proposal in a statement released today.  full story

Czech Jewish Community says speeches at Terezín commemoration were anti-German, nationalist and xenophobic

17.5.2016 11:38 Jewish communities in the Czech Republic say the speech given by the chair of the Czech Senate, Milan Štěch (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD) during Sunday's commemoration at Terezín was anti-German and nationalist. Likewise, the speech given by the head of the Czech Freedom Fighters' Union, Jaroslav Vodička, was xenophobic because of the remarks it included about refugees.  full story

Czech Republic: Demonstration in Prague calls on EU to stop subsidizing pig farm on Romani Holocaust site

17.5.2016 10:15 Monday, 16 May was the International Day of Romani Resistance, a day to honor the memory of the Romani victims of the Holocaust and the heroic uprising of Romani people in the Auschwitz concentration camp. On that occasion the Konexe organization held a demonstration in front of the EU House, the headquarters of the representation of the European Commission and European Parliament in the Czech Republic.  full story

Chair of Czech Freedom Fighters' Union makes anti-refugee speech during Terezín commemoration, Chief Rabbi objects on the spot

17.5.2016 8:16 On 15 May, participants in the Terezín Commemoration Ceremony remembered the victims of Nazi persecution at the National Cemetery in front of the Small Fortress at the Terezín Memorial. The chair of the Czech Freedom Fighters' Union (Český svaz bojovníků za svobodu - ČSBS), Jaroslav Vodička, gave an anti-refugee, xenophobic speech, to which Chief Rabbi Karol Sidon gave an emotional response.  full story

video Czech Republic: Five charged for neo-Nazi assault on demonstration in favor of receiving refugees

16.5.2016 8:42 Prague Police officers have launched the prosecutions of five men who rioted in February during an incident on Thunovská Street in Prague. Masked rioters assaulted a march by activists who were supporting migrants.  full story

Czech Govt Agency for Social Inclusion's dilemma: What to do with haters of "HateFree" who work with Romani children?

14.5.2016 9:55 "Come take a look" says Romana Hanzlová as she welcomes me into the Lampa center in the town of Mimoň. The club is pleasantly furnished with a ping-pong table around which several people are sitting, the atmosphere is friendly.  full story

Czech Republic: Pig farm at Lety will apparently remain on Romani Holocaust site, talks are going nowhere

13.5.2016 21:57 The pig farm currently occupying the site of the former concentration camp for Romani people at Lety by Písek will apparently remain there. Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD), who has led several negotiations with the owner, says no concrete conclusion has arisen from the dialogue.  full story

videoVIDEO: Commemorative ceremony at Lety by Písek

13.5.2016 19:43 The traditional commemorative ceremony honoring the Romani victims of Nazism took place today at the Lety Memorial. The commemoration was organized, as it is every year, by the Committee for the Redress of the Romani Holocaust in the Czech Republic (Výbor pro odškodnění romského holocaustu v České republice - VPORH), which brings together the former Romani prisoners of the Nazi concentration camps and the surviving relatives of the victims.  full story