ČTK

Czech Republic: Islamophobes demonstrate in four towns with ultra-nationalist party

30.9.2016 14:45 Roughly 250 people, according to Czech Police estimates, assembled for a "Saint Václav demonstration" in Prague on 28 September, a state holiday officially called the Day of Czech Statehood. The event protested the alleged "Islamization" of Europe.  full story

Germany: Two bombs exploded in Dresden, one in front of a mosque, no physical injuries

29.9.2016 14:36 Reuters reports that German Police announced on 27 September that two improvised explosive devices were detonated in Dresden, in the eastern part of Germany, on the evening of 26 September. One was planted in front of a mosque and the other in front of an international conference center.  full story

Germany: Racist assaults increasing

27.9.2016 10:56 The number of violent attacks with a racist subtext has increased in Germany. From January until mid-September, police recorded 507 such assaults, almost double the number for the same period last year, according to the magazine Spiegel.  full story

Czech court reopens trial of promotion of neo-Nazism, now in its sixth year

27.9.2016 10:31 Three of the eight people who face charges of supporting and promoting a movement aimed at suppressing human rights and freedoms stood in a renewed trial today before the District Court for Prague 1. They claim they are innocent.  full story

Czech court acquits defendant of disseminating radical Islamic book

22.9.2016 14:46 Yesterday a court in the Czech Republic acquitted the former chair of the Prague Muslim Community, Vladimír Sáňka, of disseminating a radical Islamic book. According to the Prague 1 District Court, the book promotes an ideology for which it is not possible to criminally prosecute anybody.  full story

Czech Police apprehend suspected perpetrators who spray-painted Nazi symbols on venues supporting Government's HateFree campaign

20.9.2016 6:34 Police officers have accused five youths of spray-painting cafés and shops involved in the Czech Government's Hate Free campaign with Nazi symbols and threatening messages this spring. Those accused face up to three years in prison for property damage and showing sympathy for a movement aimed at suppressing human rights and freedoms.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani faithful gather for traditional pilgrimage

18.9.2016 12:32 Roughly 400 Romani people from all over the Czech Republic and Slovakia gathered yesterday at Svatý Kopeček near Olomouc for their traditional pilgrimage. The event is organized by the Charita NGO in Olomouc and has a long tradition.
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Czech Republic: Opponents of the EU, Islam, Merkel and refugee reception demonstrate in Prague

18.9.2016 9:35 Opponents of Islam assembled on Saturday afternoon in on the upper part of Wenceslas Square in Prague. An event called "Solidarity with Refugees" took place on the lower part of Wenceslas Square at Můstek at the same time.  full story

EU: Juncker and Verhofstadt warn against nationalists and populists

15.9.2016 13:55 Belgian MEP Guy Verhofstadt, chair of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) at the European Parliament (EP), said yesterday that the solution to uncontrolled globalization and virulent nationalism and populism on the old continent is a new, reformed, stronger European Union. His remarks were made in response to the speech on the state of the union given by the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker.  full story

Czech court rejects Interior Ministry lawsuit over gallows mock-ups

14.9.2016 16:18 The Municipal Court in Prague has rejected a lawsuit filed by the Czech Interior Ministry against the Prague 1 Municipal Department over mock-ups of gallows that were used during demonstrations against Islam last year. The local authority assessed the action of bringing the mock-ups to a public assembly as lawful.  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

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

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

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

Hungarian Prosecutor charges camerawoman who kicked asylum-seekers with rioting

8.9.2016 14:42 Yesterday in Budapest the Hungarian camerawoman who allegedly tripped one refugee carrying a child and kicked others a year ago at the border between Hungary and Serbia was charged with rioting by a local prosecutor. Petra László, who lost her job over the incident, has both apologized for assaulting the asylum seekers and repeatedly attempted to defend what she did.  full story

UNICEF: 28 million children worldwide are fleeing war, most are in Turkey

8.9.2016 6:54 Yesterday the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) announced that there are 28 million children who have had to leave their homes due to wartime conflicts, while another 20 million have had to leave their homes due to criminal violence or poverty. In a document called "Uprooted", the organization states that 45 % of child refugees come from two countries, Afghanistan and Syria.  full story

Council of Europe chief says discrimination against Romani people continues to be ignored

7.9.2016 11:02 The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjörn Jagland, criticized the deterioration in the situation of Roma and Sinti people in Europe today. Jagland believes discrimination against members of these minority groups is frequently ignored or overlooked.  full story

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights criticizes populists, including Czech President

7.9.2016 6:55 The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, has criticized populist and ultra-right politicians, comparing their rhetoric to that of the radical movement of the so-called Islamic State. Among those he called "clever cheats" and political demagogues were the Dutch critic of Islam, Geert Wilders; the head of the French National Front, Marine Le Pen; Republican candidate for the President of the United States, Donald Trump; Czech President Miloš Zeman; and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico.  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