Czech Romanies call on govt to avert further clashes in Litvinov

Czech Romany groupings associated in the Romani Alliance movement called on the government today to immediately start dealing with the situation after a rally of rightist extremists in Litvinov, north Bohemia, on Saturday.

The movement said they fear the extremists may return to the town.

"Don’t allow lives to be lost in an inter-ethnicity conflict," says the statement CTK has received.

The unauthorised nationalists’ rally on Saturday resulted in clashes with police of whom about 300 were on the spot. Three policemen and one radical were injured in the conflicts.

Several groups of extremists succeeded in getting as far as the Janov housing estate most of whose inhabitants are Romanies. The police, however, eventually succeeded in preventing the two groups from clashing.

The nationalists posted on their web pages on Monday an open letter in which they say if "the inability to deal with the Gypsy issue" persists, they will return to Janov.

"You can be sure, there will be many more of us," they wrote in the letter addressed to the Litvinov mayor.

Romani Alliance criticises the police for not having dissolved the unauthorised rally on Saturday and not rendering the dangerous extremists harmless.

It called on Romanies on Wednesday not to rely on the failing state apparatus and to prepare themselves for defence against extremist attacks.

Some civic associations have accused the police of failing to cope with the extremists on Saturday, and called for the police tops and the Interior Ministry to check the allegedly insufficient police action.

The North Bohemian police, however, say their reaction was adequate.

Romani Alliance turned today mainly to Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, Interior Minister Ivan Langer, Human Rights and Minorities Minister Dzamila Stehlikova and Justice Minister Jiri Pospisil.

"Unless the current government takes adequate measures to prevent the inter-ethnicity threat, we demand that it resign, not only because of its inability, but also because of its inclination towards extreme right policy that is not compatible with democratic society," says the statement.