Miloš Zeman

Czech State Security Council takes note of extremism report as originally worded, Czech President did not get his way

6.12.2018 15:26  full story

videoCzech President insults Romani people yet again after casting his ballot

7.10.2018 14:43 Speaking on Friday afternoon after casting his ballot, Czech President Miloš Zeman made remarks that insulted Romani people in the Czech Republic yet again, his second such remark that day and the third in 10 days. Remarking that "Nazism was a long time ago", he dismissed the 20th-century suffering of Romani people - which is the reason many Romani people today do not self-identify themselves as Romani to Czech state authorities during the census.  full story

videoMEP Soraya Post supports Romani photo campaign responding to Czech President's antigypsyist remarks

5.10.2018 10:52 Czech President Zeman's antigypsyist remarks from last week continue to resonate at all levels of political life. MEP Soraya Post of Sweden has tweeted her support of the photo campaign initiated by Romani community member Štefan Pongo and the ROMEA organization in response to Zeman's remarks.  full story

European Roma flood Facebook with hundreds of photos of themselves at work, tell Czech President to stop insulting them

3.10.2018 16:25 The Facebook social networking site was flooded yesterday afternoon with hundreds of photos of Romani people at work, all uploaded in response to the insulting, racist remarks made by Czech President Miloš Zeman during a visit last week to the Olomouc Region, when he insinuated that the unemployed population of the community he was visiting was comprised of Romani people in particular. "We are no longer amused by the allegations that we don't work," Romani community member Štefan Pongo posted to Facebook.  full story

Disagree with the Czech President's antigypsyism? ERRC makes it easy to email him

2.10.2018 15:48 The European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) has sent an open letter to the President of the Czech Republic, Miloš Zeman, condemning his most recent hate speech about his fellow citizens who are Romani. News server Romea.cz is publishing the entire letter in Czech translation along with the ERRC's call for people to add their own voices and send the President an e-mail.  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

Czech President alleges Romani people "do not want to work" and that "slapping them" is the best way to deal with them

26.9.2018 12:21 Czech President Miloš Zeman recently visited the Olomouc Region and spoke at a public meeting in Kojetín during which he insulted Romani people, saying in the context of unemployment that it was absolutely clear "who" the 5 % of people without work in Kojetín are. He then went on to praise the example of the pre-1989 totalitarian era, when Romani people "had to work" and would be imprisoned if they did not.  full story

Czech President verbally assails residential hotel evictees, supports city's move to abolish housing benefits entirely

19.6.2018 15:40 Czech President Miloš Zeman perceives declaring municipal territories "housing benefit-free zones" to be part of combating poverty. He would agree with declaring all of the City of Ústí nad Labem such a zone.  full story

Czech President pushing Czech PM into Government with right-wing extremists

15.4.2018 13:26 Czech President Miloš Zeman has recommended that outgoing Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) continue to negotiate forming a new Government with the Communists and the "Freedom and Direct Democracy" (SPD) movement. Babiš informed the press of the President's recommendations after meeting him at the presidential residence on 11 April.  full story

Czech antigypsyist ultra-right party expresses support for incumbent in presidential race

25.1.2018 6:27 Members and sympathizers of the extremist Workers Social Justice Party (Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti - DSSS) should support the incumbent, Miloš Zeman, in the second round of the presidential race this Friday and Saturday, according to a recommendation that was approved on 20 January by delegates to an extraordinary convention of the party. Former chair Tomáš Vandas was re-elected Chair of the unsuccessful party once again.  full story

Czech institute reminds President that welfare restrictions have applied for more than a decade now

29.12.2017 20:28 The Institute for Social Inclusion (IPSI) has responded to the Christmas speech made by Czech President Miloš Zeman, especially the part where he discusses so-called "inadaptables". Zeman said that social benefits should be restricted for persons who refuse jobs offered to them through the state's Labor Office.  full story

Czech PM, extremists praise Czech President's Christmas speech, presidential candidates criticize it

27.12.2017 11:14 This year's Christmas message from Czech President Miloš Zeman has divided the domestic political scene. Czech PM Andrej Babiš, the head of the ANO movement, expressed
appreciation for the speech, as did SPD chair Tomio Okamura, who said it reflected the priorities of his own "Freedom and Direct Democracy" movement.

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Czech President shakes his fist during Christmas speech, references "inadaptables", rejects early elections

27.12.2017 9:53 Czech President Miloš Zeman said yesterday that 2017 was a year of good news for the Czech economy and society. In his Christmas message to the nation he expressed
appreciation for the security situation in the Czech Republic, for low unemployment, and for high economic growth.  full story

Czech expert on extremism says solidarity through hate is very strong now

4.12.2017 9:23 Racism in the Czech Republic is apparently not any more frequent now than it has been, but the perspective on what one is allowed to say in public has been altered, according to Jan Charvát, an expert on extremism at Charles University in Prague. Czech society, according to him, is undergoing a "reformatting" of what we consider normal and what not, and this flows from disappointment over developments post-1989.  full story

Czech President and Governor of Olomouc Region doubt whether attack on African man in Prague was racially motivated

19.11.2017 12:09 Czech President Miloš Zeman and the Governor of the Olomouc Region, Ladislav Okleštěk (ANO), have cast doubt on whether the assault committed against a man from Africa earlier this month in Prague by a group of Sigma Olomouc football fans on a tram was racially motivated. The victim said none of his fellow passengers came to his aid and that the driver did not understand why he wanted to call the police.  full story

Karel Holomek calls on Romani voters not to re-elect Czech President Zeman

17.4.2017 11:44 Karel Holomek, the chair of the Association of Roma in Moravia (Společenství Romů na Moravě) has called on Romani voters to take advantage of their right to vote and to cast ballots in this year's Parliamentary elections and the presidential contest next year. "I profess that I would never vote for Zeman, and if I may give you some advice, as an elderly person who is 80 years old: Do not vote for him! This is not a person who will ever unite us," Holomek said in a speech given on the occasion of the launch of this year's celebrations of International Romani Day in Brno, which news server Romea.cz publishes here in full translation.
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Czech Culture Ministry's Subsidy Commission for National Minorities issues statement against growing intolerance

29.3.2017 10:11 Earlier this month the representatives of national minorities who advise the Czech Culture Ministry on its Subsidy Commission for the Department of Audiovisual and Media Products issued a statement against growing national, religious and racial intolerance in Czech society. The national minority representatives expressed their concern and unease over the hateful attacks that more and more people have recently faced just because their ethnic origin, gender orientation or religious convictions are different from the mainstream.  full story

Czech Human Rights Minister and Czech President discuss changing the Constitution and other laws

24.2.2017 8:16 Czech Minister for Human Rights and Legislation Jan Chvojka (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD) met on 18 February with Czech President Miloš Zeman and his advisers to discuss the position of the Government's Legislative Council, which Chvojka has chaired since December. The two men also held a lengthy debate about the law on social enterprises.  full story

Czech Interior Minister and President disagree about disinformation unit

16.1.2017 6:43 Czech President Miloš Zeman and Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD) met last week but were unable to find a common position on the new unit that has been focused on fighting disinformation since the beginning of the year. Zeman is convinced the staffers of the new department are incapable of detecting actual disinformation.  full story

Supporters of Czech President march through Prague chanting slogans against Islam, their opponents force them to re-route

18.11.2016 18:56 Yesterday roughly 300 people assembled in Prague to support Czech President Miloš Zeman and express their disagreement with Czech migration policy, which they view as endangering the country. They also criticized Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD) and other members of Government, the late President Havel, intellectuals and students.  full story