Czech Republic

Commentary: Czech special educators fear the inevitable - inclusive education

Prague, 1.5.2014 0:09, (ROMEA) In the Czech Republic the Association of Special Educators (Asociace speciálních pedagogů - ASP) is cringing and their supporters are sounding the alarm as if they were in real distress. On 19 April, the regional edition of the daily Mf DNES published an interview with Václav Mrštík, director of a regional-level educational-psychological counseling center, entitled "Psychologist: The law is more Catholic than the Pope and does not take children into consideration" (Psycholog: Zákon je papežštější než papež. Vůbec nehledí na děti.)  full story

Czech Republic: Ultra-right marches tomorrow in Ústí, Romea.cz will report online in real time

Prague/Ústí nad Labem, 30.4.2014 17:52, (ROMEA) Extraordinary security measures are being undertaken for an assembly followed by a march which has been convened for 1 May in the center of Ústí nad Labem by the right-wing extremist Workers' Social Justice Party (Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti - DSSS). Police estimate that around 500 supporters of the DSSS might come to Ústí for the march.  full story

Czech Police raid mosque, charge man with disseminating racism

Prague, 29.4.2014 0:03, (ROMEA) On 25 April police officers raided two buildings of the Islamic Foundation (Islámská nadace - IN) in Prague, one near Wenceslas Square and one near the Černý Most metro station, that are used by members of the Muslim community as gathering places. The raid was performed on the suspicion that the foundation was publishing and distributing books that disseminate anti-Semitism, racism, violence against so-called inferior races, and xenophobia.  full story

Czech Republic: Úsvit running a racist, xenophobic EP campaign

Prague, 28.4.2014 18:16, (ROMEA) The Úsvit (Dawn of Direct Democracy) movement of Czech MP Tomio Okamura has officially launched its racist, xenophobic election campaign. The movement is using a poster depicting white sheep kicking a black sheep off of the Czech flag along with slogans against immigrants and Roma.  full story

Former Czech Green Party candidate owns tabloid publishing anti-Roma articles

Prague, 26.4.2014 20:50, (ROMEA) "If Gypsies beat up a pub owner, I'll write six articles about it and keep on writing them... I'll say it's a Rom no matter what the cost. If whites beat up a white guy, or if a white guy beats up a Rom... then no," the editor-in-chief of the tabloid news server Extra.cz, Pavel Novotný, says of his practices in the recent Czech documentary film "Tabloid Workers" (Dělníci bulváru).  full story

Czech court: 2.5 years for arson attempt on Romani-occupied building

České Budějovice, 25.4.2014 23:38, (ROMEA) The District Court in České Budějovice has announced its verdict in an attempted arson case from last year. The perpetrator was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison without the possibility of parole for intending to commit felony intimidation.  full story

Czech Police mobilizing: 500 neo-Nazis heading to Ústí nad Labem

Prague, 24.4.2014 15:38, (ROMEA) Czech Police units from Liberec Region and Prague will beef up the Ústí Regional Police on 1 May for a march by hundreds of supporters of the Workers' Social Justice Party (Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti - DSSS). Football hooligans are evidently planning to attend the event as well.  full story

Czech Republic: Neo-Nazis to gather 1 May in Ústí, civic initiatives protecting ghettos

Ústí nad Labem, 19.4.2014 21:11, (ROMEA) Civic initiatives have announced that they have reserved the streets leading to the socially excluded localities in the Czech town of Ústí nad Labem for 1 May. The initiatives want to prevent local occupants from being targeted by the neo-Nazis who are planning to march through the center of town that same day.  full story

Czech Republic: Five years on, Romani arson victims still live in fear

Praha/Budišov, 19.4.2014 19:12, (ROMEA) News server ČT24.cz reports that 19 April marks five years from the moment when four right-wing extremists used Molotov cocktails to attack a home occupied by a Romani family in the Czech town of Vítkov. The perpetrators of the attack are behind bars for now.  full story

Do the Czech courts believe "black swine" is not a racist insult?

České Budějovice, 19.4.2014 2:18, (ROMEA) News server 5plus2.cz reports that a court has sentenced 23 people for perpetrating last year's anti-Romani violence at the Máj housing estate in České Budějovice. Not one person was charged with or convicted of racial motivation.  full story

Commentary: Is Roma unemployment a cause or an effect?

Prague, 19.4.2014 0:24, (ROMEA) I find myself in complete agreement with representatives of the Czech Labor Office when it comes to the dead-end position of the Romani community here. They have said they consider Romani integration into society insufficient, and also that they fear further deterioration of the situation and the growth of right-wing extremism.  full story

Czech prosecutor says 2013 arson attempt not racially motivated

České Budějovice, 18.4.2014 22:46, (ROMEA) A man who attempted to set fire to a building occupied by Romani families in České Budějovice on 14 July last year is evidently facing a punishment on the lower end of the scale. The state prosecutor does not believe his crime to have been racially motivated and has instead called it "the behavior of a drunkard".  full story

Czech senator racially insults Roma with fake 15th-century quote

Prague, 17.4.2014 0:05, (ROMEA) Czech Senator Jozef Regec believes "gypsies" are an "unclean race". On his Facebook profile he has referenced words allegedly written by Czech religious reformer Jan Hus in the 15th century condemning members of that ethnicity.  full story

Czech ombud: What threats do minorities face and why does the majority feel at risk?

Brno, 16.4.2014 22:45, (ROMEA) Czech ombud Anna Šabatová recently gave a speech to open the 23rd annual "Dialogue in the Center of Europe" symposium, the topic of which was "People on the Margins", organized by the Bernard Bolzano Society and the Munich-based Ackermann-Gemeinde. News server Romea.cz publishes the speech in full translation below.  full story

Are these "gypsies" or Roma, rumors vs. real life?

Brno, 16.4.2014 21:09, (ROMEA) You can tell a public discussion in the Czech Republic is about Romani people by one particular feature: There are always more "experts" sitting in the hall than on the panel, and they unfortunately never have enough of an opportunity to speak. All of their time is usurped by the "pseudo-humanists" who are invited to address them.  full story

New Czech Police Commissioner wants to fight extremism, hooligans and tax crime

14.4.2014 23:27, (ROMEA) Czech Police Commissioner Tomáš Tuhý, appointed this past Saturday, is including the fight against drugs and street crime, extremism, and violence at stadium events among his priorities. He also wants to focus on tax crime and is supposed to be preparing a special unit called Cobra for that purpose.  full story

One Czech Facebook page calling for the killing of "gypsies" shut down, one still open

Prague, 12.4.2014 6:27, (ROMEA) For the past several days the Facebook social networking site has hosted an openly hateful, racist page in the Czech language called "We demand impunity for shooting gypsies" (Požadujeme beztrestné vystřílení cikánů). On 11 April at 11:08 AM, news server Romea.cz published an article about the fact that according to communications with those who reported the page, Facebook did not find that it violated its "community principles".  full story

Andrej Giňa: Paťiv. - We Still Know What Respect Is.

Prague, 10.4.2014 22:43, (ROMANO VOĎI ) It is no exaggeration to say that without Andrej Giňa (born 1936) there would be no Romani literature. At the very least it would be deprived not only of a number of excellent texts that can absolutely be compared to the better works of Czech literature, but also of a distinctive author who brought to Romani writing an irreplaceable variety of styles, themes and topics.  full story

Czech town closes residential hotel, creates a new ghetto

Varnsdorf, 10.4.2014 20:52, (ROMEA) A new ghetto is now arising in the northern Bohemian town of Varnsdorf. The area is filling up with people who have left a municipally-run residential hotel after the town leadership tightened the conditions for accommodation there.  full story

Jarmila Balážová: Petition against foreigners is cheap, hateful and populist

Prague, 10.4.2014 20:20, (ROMEA) The opposition "Dawn of Direct Democracy" (Úsvit) movement is launching a petition for tightening EU immigration policy. According to the head of the movement, Czech MP Tomio Okamura, the petition is being launched EU-wide and its aim is to change the relevant legislation on immigration.  full story