Násilí

Slovakia: Romani youth in critical condition after brutal racist attack, police say they see no racist motive and make racist remarks themselves

25.7.2018 9:26 Slovak news server Denník N reports that accusations of battery and the co-perpetration of rioting have been made against four men in their early twenties from Žilina, Slovakia. In the early morning hours of Saturday, 21 July, along with other racists, the four men identified are said to have assaulted a group of Romani people.  full story

First-graders from Czech school subjected to racist attacks online receive tablets thanks to ROMEA's fundraising drive

2.7.2018 6:15 Children attending the primary school in Teplice that faced a wave of racist online commentaries in the autumn of 2017 were given tablets and other small gifts during the end-of-year celebration that were bought for them by the school with the proceeds from the ROMEA organization's fundraising campaign on their behalf. At last Thursday's celebration, graduating pupils were given a sash to wear and were accompanied by the first-graders in addition to their teachers during the ceremony.  full story

Czech court acquits police officer, says use of force against Romani harvester was legal, state to appeal

17.6.2018 11:13

The use by police of a collapsible truncheon against a harvester of legally-grown technical hemp from a field in the Česká Lípa district was not criminal, according to a court in Česká Lípa that acquitted the officer on 14 June. The defendant had faced up to five years in prison for abusing his powers.

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Czech police officer who brutally assaulted Romani workers now on trial

17.2.2018 7:26 On 14 February 2018 a 36-year-old police officer went on trial before the District Court in Česká Lípa, accused of abusing the powers of a public official. According to the indictment, he used a collapsible metal truncheon to beat a 41-year-old man who was harvesting legal technical cannabis in September 2015 in Písečná u Dobranova.  full story

Czech Police investigating video of father encouraging his daughter to imagine she is beating "Gypsies"

5.8.2017 9:11 News server Aktuálně.cz has spoken with the man who made a video of himself encouraging his daughter to beat a pillow with a baseball bat while imagining she is beatng a "Gypsy" or a Muslim, an action he has told them he does not regret. After news server Romea.cz broke the news of the video going viral on Facebook, police have begun their investigation of the case.  full story

Stano Daniel: Slovak Roma have to let themselves be beaten up now, otherwise the fascists will be elected

30.5.2017 8:00 Among Romani people in Slovakia the feeling is prevailing that the biggest threat to their future is the fascist party chaired by Marian Kotleba. It is quite possible to agree with their sentiment.  full story

Slovak Police President defends intervention against Roma, says batons were brandished but nobody was struck

29.5.2017 10:19 The President of the Police Corps of the Slovak Republic, Tibor Gašpar, gave a press conference on 25 May about the recent police intervention in Zborov and, contradicting his first statements about the video of the incident, said the only behavior he now assessed as disproportionate was when an officer pushed an older woman who then fell to the ground. The Police President said he believed the officers had had no choice but to behave as they did and that they used their batons just to threaten people, not to actually strike them.  full story

Czech Republic: Parents of children who killed flamingo have apologized and will pay damages

29.3.2017 8:51 The parents of the children who killed a flamingo at the zoo in Jihlava are willing to pay damages or work them off. Zoo director Eliška Kubíková informed the public of the developments in an interview with news server Lidovky.cz.  full story

Czech Republic: Non-Romani men fighting "about a girl" misreported by media as neo-Nazi brawl with Roma

17.2.2017 7:53 Online news server udalosti112.cz broadcast reporting including video footage on 12 February claiming that a street battle had erupted in the town of Litvínov, Czech Republic between neo-Nazis and Romani people, writing about a "battle of a group of skinheads with local Roma" that "employed local and state police and emergency medical responders". News server Romea.cz was then contacted by an eyewitness to the incident who said it was not a clash between right-wing extremists and Romani people, but an ordinary "pub brawl" among non-Romani locals involving a dispute "about a girl".  full story

Czech Republic: Allegations of police brutality against Romani youths at Prague housing estate

2.11.2016 19:59 Last week a young Romani man posted on the Facebook social networking site complaining of an improper intervention against him and others by police officers in the Černý Most neighborhood of Prague. The police have decided, on the basis of the speculation that has arisen about the case, to investigate the entire situation, including the police intervention.  full story

videoCzech Republic: Eyewitness video footage shows Romani man was subjected to violence before he died

31.10.2016 17:40 An eyewitness to the incident in the pizzeria in the Czech town of Žatec on 18 October during which a Romani man died used a mobile phone to film what transpired. When the images are enlarged and also slowed down, they clearly show other customers committing violence against him prior to his death, including in front of the local police officers who intervened.  full story

Edited CCTV footage from Czech pizzeria where Romani man died is broadcast, questions remain unanswered

30.10.2016 21:47 The pizzeria in the Czech town of Žatec where a young Romani man died on 18 October has provided CCTV footage of the incident to the commercial Prima television station, which broadcast some of it on Saturday evening. The management of the restaurant claims it is doing its best to calm the situation by releasing the images.  full story

Miroslav Klempár: The value of a Romani life versus social norms

27.10.2016 9:52 What is the value of a human life? What is the life of a drug addict, a homosexual, a prostitute, a thief - or of a corrupt politician - worth?  full story

videoAnonymous eyewitness describes Romani man falling silent after punch to head

24.10.2016 7:17 According to an anonymous eyewitness who filmed the course of the incident in the pizzeria in Žatec on 18 October, one of the customers involved in assaulting the young Romani man who died there punched him in the head as he was prone, after which the victim stopped moaning. The eyewitness also claims that after the ambulance took the deceased away, the restaurant continued to do business and the customers present kept drinking.  full story

Czech Republic: Pizzeria management says Romani man who died there attacked customers, who "detained him until police arrived"

21.10.2016 21:23 According to the management of the Cafe Pizzerie Panamera, the young Romani man who died in the restaurant on Tuesday, 18 October, visited the business twice that day. On the first occasion he reportedly ordered a non-alcoholic beverage and wanted to borrow a telephone, allegedly to call his relatives.  full story

Czech Republic: Five physically injured after Hitler is praised in local restaurant

10.10.2016 14:14 A physical conflict occurred between two different groups of people on the evening of Saturday, 8 October in a restaurant in the village of Chotutice near Český Brod (Kolín district). According to eyewitnesses, the conflict happened after a local customer declared he was sorry that Adolf Hitler hadn't managed to fully implement his "solution" for the "Romani question".  full story

Czech PM: Hate attacks in UK after Brexit are future of Europe if EU falls

10.10.2016 9:25 On Friday, 7 October, Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD) said the British decision to leave the European Union has led to foreign nationals becoming targeted for assault in Britain. He believes a similar error must not be repeated in any other EU country, otherwise Europe will be smashed by its own hatreds and nationalism.  full story

Analysis: When the Czech Police contribute to disseminating hatred toward Romani people

1.9.2016 17:38 Whoever publicly incites hatred of a nation, race, ethnic group, religion, class or other group of person, or incites the restriction of the rights and freedoms of the members of such a group, is supposed to be punished in the Czech Republic by up to two years in prison. That is the wording of the Criminal Code (Section 356), which also authorizes the same punishment in cases of rioting or conspiring to commit the offense of incitement to hatred.  full story

Czech court says police not responsible for death of Romani man

25.8.2016 7:37 A court in Sokolov, Czech Republic, has acquitted the police officers who arrested a Romani man, Ľudovít Kašpar, in 2012, who subsequently died. The verdict will not be appealed.  full story

Czech Republic: New expert witness provides yet another explanation why Romani man died after police intervention

30.7.2016 9:34 On Monday yet another hearing was held at the Sokolov District Court in the matter of the death of Ľudovit K. in the West Bohemian town of Kynšperk. The father of three young children died two days after being subjected to an intervention by two police officers in May 2012.
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