ČTK

Holocaust memorial in Czech town will bloom with yellow crocuses in the spring

17.10.2018 10:44 Almost 4 000 yellow crocuses will bloom in the spring at the memorial to the Holocaust on Vodní Street in Valašské Meziříčí (Vsetín district). An important Jewish community once resided there prior to the Second World War.  full story

Czech Internet users celebrate the deaths of migrant children in Turkey

17.10.2018 9:44 Turkey's state wire service Anadolu reported the deaths of at least 22 migrants, including children, during a traffic accident in the west of the country on Sunday, 14 October. According to photographs taken at the accident scene, a truck which was apparently transporting the migrants broke through traffic barriers and dropped from the highway into an irrigation canal below.  full story

Czech Senate elections won by the right-wing Civic Democrats

17.10.2018 8:42 The victor of this year's elections to the Czech Senate is the Civic Democratic Party (ODS), 10 of whose 11 candidates have won their runoffs. The party will have the strongest club in the upper chamber, tying the STAN (Mayors and Independents) movement, which won six of its runoffs.  full story

Germany: More than 200 000 people protest discrimination, neo-Nazism and racism

15.10.2018 12:31 On Saturday, 13 October, more than 200 000 people attended a demonstration against racism, the ultra-right and xenophobia in Berlin, many more than were anticipated, according to public broadcaster Deutsche Welle. Organizers estimated that 242 000 people turned out for the protest.  full story

Slovakia: Two-day meeting of V4 presidents was to cover Romani community issues, among other matters

15.10.2018 11:47 On 11 October a two-day meeting began in the High Tatras of Slovakia between the presidents of four Central European countries comprising the so-called Visegrád Four (V4). The traditional summit between the presidents of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia was hosted by Slovak President Andrej Kiska, whose country is now presiding over the V4.  full story

Czech ultra-nationalist party joins local assembly in the country's second-largest city

15.10.2018 8:14 The local assembly of the City of Brno will be joined for the first time ever by the populist, xenophobic "Freedom and Direct Democracy Movement of Tomio Okamura" (SPD), which won four of the 55 seats there in the recent elections. The lead candidate on that ticket, college instructor Ivan Fencl, told the Czech News Agency he wants to audit the city's financial management and strategic projects as part of the opposition.  full story

Czech Youth Olympics team has its first medal - Romani community can be proud of the record-setting performance too

12.10.2018 9:26 The first medal for the Czech team at the Buenos Aires 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games was won during the very first day of competition by weightlifter
František Polák, who came in third in the Men's 56 kg category. On his way to the bronze medal he broke three Czech junior records.  full story

ROMEA to Czech President: Romani life in communist Czechoslovakia included forced assimilation, forced sterilization of women, segregated education

10.10.2018 15:40 Speaking on Friday after casting his ballot for an interview with Richard Samko, a Czech Television reporter who is a Romani community member, Czech President Miloš Zeman reiterated that Romani people - unlike other citizens - did not suffer so much during the communist era. "What kind of nationality can this be if the nation cannot even manage to espouse its own nationality and instead of that lists themselves [during the census] as Slovak, Czech, Hungarian, I don't know what all," Zeman also said during the interview.  full story

videoROMEA: Czech President has manipulated facts yet again - we can prove 70 % of Romani people in this country work

5.10.2018 14:22 Czech President Miloš Zeman is insisting on the accuracy of his remarks about unemployed Romani people. Responding to the hundreds of photographs posted to
Facebook by Romani people from their workplaces, Zeman said today that the initiative represented just one-tenth of the Romani population.
 full story

USA: Four racists arrested over last year's violence in Charlottesville

3.10.2018 11:11 Reuters reports that yesterday the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States arrested four radical adherents of white supremacy who participated in last year's violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. Those arrested are members of an antisemitic, racist movement and were among the most violent participants in last year's clash with those opposed to racism that directly resulted in the death of one person and dozens of injuries.  full story

European Roma Rights Centre: Czech President's remarks were antigypsyist hate speech

2.10.2018 8:31 Yesterday the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) sent an open letter addressed to Czech President Zeman and objecting to recent comments he made about Romani people when he was speaking last week in the Olomouc Region - Zeman alleged that exactly the Romani residents of the particular community he was visiting constitute their population of unemployed people, which the ERRC believes was a racist characterization. Zeman went on to allege that during the communist regime, Romani people "had to work" and were imprisoned if they refused to do so.  full story

A quarter of a century ago, 18 racists hounded a Romani man to death; the Czech courts convicted just three

25.9.2018 19:14 Tibor Danihel, a Romani resident of the Czech town of Písek, was just 17 years old when, on 24 September 1993, a group of neo-Nazis chased him into the Otava river, where he drowned. The subsequent trial of the culprits was a complicated journey from first-instance acquittals for almost all the defendants to an eventual ruling, for three perpetrators, of prison sentences without the possibility of parole.  full story

Czech movement calling itself "Decent People" fined for disrupting theatrical production

25.9.2018 9:55 Members of the "Decent People" (Slušní lidé) movement have been fined a total of CZK 126 000 [EUR 4918] for their disruption in May of a Czech-language theatrical production of a play called "Our Violence, Your Violence". The Brno-střed Municipal Department has ordered 25 people be fined for contributing to what has been identified as misdemeanor behavior.  full story

Czech court hears accused assailants of African man deny they racially abused him in any way

16.9.2018 9:29 Fans of the Sigma Olomouc football team have testified in court and denied racially abusing and assaulting a dark-skinned passenger on a tram in Prague last year as they were traveling to a match. The defendants admitted to witnessing the conclusion of the incident, but described the passenger as having threatened another fan.  full story

Slovakia: Girl from impoverished Romani family wins race running in flats

8.9.2018 7:08 Annamárie Horváthová, a pupil from an impoverished Romani family, has drawn attention and expressions of sympathy from the public in Slovakia after winning a race in which, unlike her competitors, she was wearing just flats. A co-organizer of the competition has found a sponsor who has now given the girl new running shoes and socks.  full story

Czech Government releases funds to demolish pig farm on Romani genocide site, archaeological survey will happen

5.9.2018 7:28 Yesterday the Czech Government decided to release CZK 111 million [EUR 4,311,600] for an archaeological survey, cleanup and demolition work on the grounds of the
defunct pig farm at the site of the former concentration camp for Romani people at Lety. Czech Culture Minister Antonín Staněk (Czech Social Democratic
Party - ČSSD) informed the Czech News Agency and Czech Radio of the decision after yesterday's cabinet session.  full story

Czech appeals court reduces sentence for murder of Romani man to seven years, prosecutor calls it disproportionate, inhumane and unjust

3.9.2018 14:57 Petr Benda has been sentenced on appeal to just seven years in prison for shooting dead the driver of a van on a housing estate in the Czech town of Chomutov. The High Court in Prague announced the verdict on 28 August, overturning the original verdict, which would have sent the perpetrator behind bars for 12.5 years.  full story

German Police find right-wing extremists' list of 25 000 "enemies"

8.8.2018 6:01 Deutsche-Presse Agentur (DPA) reported last week that the German Police found a list with the names of 25 000 persons considered political enemies by right-wing extremists during an anti-terrorist raid in the northeast of the country last year. The news was revealed in a response given by the German Justice Ministry to a query posed by an MP in the Federal Assembly.  full story

Eyewitnesses allege staff at Czech lake did not help Vietnamese mothers look for their children, who drowned

6.8.2018 9:50 Tragedy struck Lake Lhota near Prague in the Czech Republic last Thursday when two seven-year-old boys were lost - after two hours of searching, they were found, but it was too late. Both boys had drowned.  full story

Italy: Moroccan beaten to death, athlete of Nigerian origin attacked as fascists in the Govt spread racism

1.8.2018 11:29 Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, the boss of the anti-immigrant Lega party, is facing criticism from opposition politicians for creating a hateful atmosphere in the country. In recent days Italy has witnessed a series of attacks with apparently racist motivations including Monday's attack on Daisy Osakue, an Italian athlete of Nigerian origin.  full story