Czech Republic

Commentary: Are the Czech police not bothered by death threats and a gallows?

6.7.2015 22:08 The following commentary was first published in Czech on 2 July.  full story

Commentary: Actually, the Czech Police do not "know" that a gallows has no place in a democracy

6.7.2015 19:32 Police officers do not have an easy job and Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec evidently does not know much about their work. Just imagine someone bringing a mock-up of a gallows to a demonstration, as occurred last Wednesday.  full story

Czech Republic: Thousands call on Government to stand up to hatred

6.7.2015 17:01 Last Wednesday's demonstration on Wenceslas Square in Prague demonstrated how hot-button problems related to the hysteria being spread on the topic of refugees in the Czech Republic are being dealt with. The event sparked a more or less immediate reaction and an Open Letter to the Czech PM and Interior Minister was posted online within 48 hours.  full story

Czech Prime Minister: Police procedure during demonstration with gallows was absurd

5.7.2015 20:01 The Czech Police are facing harsh criticism for the procedure they elected to follow during a recent hate demonstration when, instead of intervening against people carrying mock-ups of gallows and chanting racist slogans, they intervened against those counter-protesting them. Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka and Czech Labor and Social Affairs Minister Michaela Marksová have joined the criticism of the police.  full story

Czech Interior Minister says police should know a gallows has no place in a democracy

3.7.2015 6:10 Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD) is demanding an explanation from police leadership as to why they did not intervene against the participants in the recent demonstration against Islam and migration in the center of Prague who were carrying mock-ups of gallows. The minister said the police must be aware that neither death threats nor gallows have any place in a democracy.  full story

Czech MP holds hate rally with nooses for "traitors" warning of "hordes of horny blacks"

1.7.2015 22:12 A demonstration against immigration and quotas and in favor of the Czech Republic leaving the European Union was held this afternoon on Prague's Wenceslas Square, attended by approximately 700 people. After the opening remarks, protesters headed for the Office of the Government, ending the protest three hours later at around 20:00 CET.  full story

Sir Nicholas Winton, who saved Jewish children from the Holocaust, has passed away

1.7.2015 19:20 Sir Nicholas Winton, who saved more than 650 Czechoslovak children from certain death in Nazi camps, has passed away at the age of 106. The Associated Press reports that Winton's son-in-law has announced the news.  full story

Czech Republic: Anti-immigrant, Islamophobic protest in Prague

1.7.2015 17:41 Several hundred people demonstrated yesterday in Prague against the Czech Republic receiving refugees. Their claim is that the recent decision of the Czech Government to voluntarily receive several hundred migrants is a "dirty trick".  full story

Czech Republic: Study says mandatory preschool could paradoxically worsen Romani children's situations

1.7.2015 5:55 Mandatory preschool attendance could contribute to further stigmatization of Romani children and problems for their entire families. Such attendance will also not make it easier for them to adapt to primary school.  full story

Czech Republic: Hooligans physically attack customer of café supporting refugees in Brno

1.7.2015 1:24 For expressing solidarity with refugees on social networking sites, the Brno-based Tři Ocásci café has endured a wave of insulting reactions and threats online. Last Saturday the situation culminated in hooligans physically attacking a customer there.  full story

Czech trial hears recording of real estate broker rejecting Romani customer

27.6.2015 20:12 A court in Litoměřice began to review an alleged case of discrimination this past Wednesday against a Romani woman, Lenka Balogová. The plaintiff is seeking a public apology from real estate broker Eliška Nosková and CZK 100 000 (EUR 3 670) in compensation because Nosková's brokerage refused to discuss leasing an apartment to Balogová because of her ethnicity.  full story

Czech riot police keep anti-immigrant, ultra-right demonstrators separate from counter-protesters in Brno

27.6.2015 0:34 Police riot units had to separate the participants of two demonstrations in Brno from each other today, one against the reception of immigrants to the Czech Republic, the other expressing solidarity with refugees. Both events took place at the same place and time just a few hundred meters away from each other.  full story

Czech School Inspectorate unequivocally supports collecting "ethnic" statistics

25.6.2015 22:57 Does it make sense to collect "ethnic data" in the Czech Republic? Specifically, to collect data about Romani people with respect to crime, employment, the number of Romani children in the "practical schools", and social situations?  full story

Commentary: Czech Labor Minister and ombud at odds over housing benefit law, mayor says state administration is "collapsing"

25.6.2015 19:35 The threat of tens of thousands of new homeless people, including families with children, ending up "on the streets" over the next few months has forced Czech Government politicians to re-evaluate the interpretation of an amendment to the law on aid to those in material distress adopted last fall by legislators, but it is not yet clear what the next steps will be. Only one thing is clear: Based on the developments of recent months and weeks, there is no guarantee that legislators will adopt another amendment on this issue in time that will be good enough to not be changed again several months from now.  full story

Czech Constitutional Court says MP's anti-Romani remarks not covered by immunity

25.6.2015 17:01 The Czech Constitutional Court (Ústavní soud - ÚS) has rejected a complaint filed by former MP Otto Chaloupka demanding immunity from prosecution. Last year the Czech Supreme Court rejected his appeal after he was given a suspended six-month sentence and put on probation for one year because of hateful remarks about Romani people that he posted to the Facebook social networking site.  full story

David Beňák: Without "ethnic statistics", we are de facto blind

24.6.2015 22:21 Does it make sense to collect "ethnic data" in the Czech Republic? Specifically, to collect data about Romani people with respect to crime, employment, the number of Romani children in the "practical schools", and social situations?  full story

Czech Interior Minister calls for housing benefits law to change, gives new interpretation of existing regulations

23.6.2015 21:44 The current crisis around the disbursal of housing benefits to people living in residential hotels in the Czech Republic might have a surprisingly simple solution, at least temporarily. According to Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec, a municipality's disagreement with the disbursal of benefits does not have to be considered a binding decision.  full story

Czech-language Facebook page of non-existent group falsifies photo of banner carried by Romani people

23.6.2015 20:42 The fake Czech-language Facebook group "Roma against Islam" (Romové proti Islámu) has published an altered version of a photo taken of a Romani demonstration in September 2013 in front of the Office of the Czech Government. On one the banners, instead of the Romani flag which was actually being held, the photo has been doctored to show a text that attacks refugees.  full story

Czech Chamber of Commerce considers local branch's call for Army to patrol Roma unacceptable

23.6.2015 17:46 An "Open Call" demanding a solution to the "negative immigration of inadaptables" and the deployment of the Czech Army to patrol Romani residents in excluded localities was published several days ago by the District Chamber of Commerce (OHK) in the town of Ústí nad Labem. News server Romea.cz reported yesterday that the leadership of the national Chamber of Commerce of the Czech Republic did not respond to our questions regarding the "Open Call".  full story

Czech management professional on hiring of Roma

21.6.2015 2:36 Right at the start of my work with the Civil Society Studies Department at Charles University in Prague I became involved in a new area in which I had not done much research, that of disadvantaged candidates and minorities on the labor market. My specialization is personnel management, and here I must state that the issue of employing people from these groups is not focused on by many experts, with the exception of those social enterprises that specifically target the employment of the disadvantaged or minorities.  full story