EUROPE: Roma Pride 2016 raised the issue of denying that Roma were Holocaust victims
On Sunday, 2 October, the sixth annual Roma Pride event took place in a number of locations around Europe including Prague. Compared to previous years, there was significantly lower Romani turnout for it in Prague this year.
The aim of the event was to draw attention to the situation of the Romani minority in society and focused on the issue of the denial that Romani people were also victims of the Holocaust. The program in Prague began at 14:00 at the Church of Martin-in-the-Wall in Prague with a performance by the children’s dance ensemble Amare čhave.
Romani activist Jozef Miker gave a speech complaining about the low Romani turnout. “We are losing our pride. I don’t know exactly how many Romani people live in Prague, but I don’t see any of them here. Where are the Prague Roma, where is their pride?” he asked.
The originally-planned march on the Old Town Square did not take place and those attending instead walked across Wenceslas Square to the Hussite Drop-In Club (Nízkoprahového klubu Husita). The European event is organized by the European Grassroots Antiracist Movement (EGAM), the Czech member organizations of which are the Konexe association and the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren.
