Přednádraží

Czech Republic: Building owner demolishing controversial properties on Přednádraží Street in Ostrava

31.10.2015 16:47 The buildings on Přednádraží Street in Ostrava from which about 25 Romani families had to move away two years ago have been under new ownership since mid-October. After several unsuccessful auctions, the buildings were bought for almost CZK 600 000 (EUR 22 000) by the Ostrava Engineering and Repair Plant (Ostravské opravny a strojírny), which also owns a production facility nearby.  full story

Commentary: In Czech Republic, Romani evictees reunite in their old neighborhood

Ostrava, 6.8.2014 19:49, (ROMEA) On the occasion of the two-year anniversary of the authorities announcing to the residents of Přednádraží Street that they had to move out of their homes, an open meeting was held in the neighborhood on Saturday, 2 August by the former residents, their acquaintances and friends. More than 300 people, including the families who were the last to leave the neighborhood last July, gathered among the decrepit buildings to mark the anniversary.  full story

Czech NGO wants to buy buildings from which Romani tenants were evicted

Ostrava, 2.8.2014 2:07, (ROMEA) The Life Together (Vzájemné soužití) NGO, led by Kumar Vishwanathan, wants to buy buildings on Přednádraží Street in Ostrava which are now going up for auction. News server Lidovky.cz reports that the NGO's aim is to make it possible for the Romani tenants who were evicted from the properties to return to their homes.  full story

Czech Republic: Activists, evictees to hold open meeting on housing in Ostrava

Ostrava, 29.7.2014 15:57, (ROMEA) The following is a press release from the former residents of Přednádraží Street:  full story

Czech Republic: Ostrava town hall bans one neo-Nazi march, another will go forward

Ostrava, 16.8.2013 21:50, (ROMEA) The Municipal Department of Moravská Ostrava a Přívoz has banned an assembly and march planned for Saturday, 24 August by neo-Nazis because an assembly of Romani people was previously announced for the same places at the same time. Municipal department spokesperson Jana Pondělíčková informed the Czech News Agency of the decision today.Another assembly by right-wing radicals will evidently go forward in Ostrava on that same day, as it was announced for different locations than the Romani march.  full story

Czech Republic: Families on Přednádraží Street in Ostrava prepare to leave

Ostrava, 5.7.2013 18:58, (ROMEA) The last families living in the sole occupied building in the ghetto on Přednádraží Street in Ostrava, number 8, are preparing to move out. They have given up on their year-long fight to preserve the locality.  full story

Czech Republic: Last Romani families leave Ostrava's Přednádraží street

Ostrava, 5.6.2013 16:07, (ROMEA) News server Novinky.cz reports that after a roughly 10-month fight to remain in one last building on Přednádraží street in Ostrava, the Romani families left there (about 20 people) have decided this week to definitely move out. Nonprofit organizations involved with them, however, do not want to give up on the matter and are considering filing a lawsuit against the role played by the authorities in the eviction process.  full story

Czech Republic: Owner offers Přednádraží properties to town of Ostrava

Ostrava, 23.5.2013 5:45, (ROMEA) Yesterday the owner of the ill-fated properties on Přednádraží Street in Ostrava, Oldřich Roztočil, sent an open letter to Mayor Petr Kajnar (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD) offering to sell his real estate in the locality to the town and asking for a meeting. The mayor says he is not opposed to meeting with the landlord.  full story

Czech court initiates distraint against Přednádraží landlord, auction may result

Ostrava, 15.5.2013 7:04, (ROMEA) A court has initiated distraint against Domy Přednádraží, s.r.o., the firm that owns properties in the ghetto on Přednádraží Street in Ostrava. The decision was made at the request of Ostrava Waterworks and Sewerage (Ostravské vodárny a kanalizace - OVAK), which is owed several hundreds of thousands of crowns by the firm.  full story

videoCzech Republic: “Slave of Race” initiative holds “happenings” to launch petition

Ostrava/Prague, 7.5.2013 0:28, (ROMEA) A newly-created initiative called “Slave of Race” (Otrokem rasy) launched its activity today with two happenings, one in front of the Czech Interior Ministry in Prague and another in front of the Ostrava town hall, where people sought signatures on a petition in support of those remaining in the Přednádraží ghetto. Because the situation in Ostrava has drastically deteriorated, the initiative is focusing its activities on that topic.  full story

Czech landlord files criminal charges against tenants on Přednádraží street

Ostrava, 4.5.2013 16:18, (ROMEA) Oldřich Roztočil, the owner of the ghetto buildings on Přednádraží Street in Ostrava, has filed criminal charges against the people still living in the last property there. Roztočil now wants them to move out. He originally gave them a deadline of 17:00 on Friday, 3 May.  full story

Czech landlord leases property on Monday, evicts tenants on Friday

Ostrava, 3.5.2013 23:16, (ROMEA) Oldřich Roztočil, the owner of the buildings in the ghetto on Přednádraží Street in Ostrava, has called on those occupying the last remaining building there, number 8, to move out by 17:00 today. Roztočil said that if the people do not leave he is prepared to turn to the police and request their assistance in removing people from the premises.  full story

Czech court says landlord was not obligated to evacuate Přednádraží properties

Ostrava, 26.4.2013 19:31, (ROMEA) News server Novinky.cz reports that the Regional Court in Ostrava has ruled that the Building Works Authority of a central Ostrava district was not justified in instructing the owner of the buildings in the ghetto on Přednádraží Street, Oldřich Roztočil, to evacuate them. Roztočil does not have to pay a CZK 30 000 fine levied by the authorities for not evacuating the properties. He is now drawing up new leases for his displaced tenants, who are Romani.  full story

Brussels: AI stages eviction of Romani settlement on International Romani Day

Brussels, Belgium, 9.4.2013 16:55, (ROMEA) A “happening” portraying the forced eviction of a Romani settlement was staged yesterday in Brussels by the human rights organization Amnesty International (AI) in order to draw attention to the situation of Romani people in Europe. Yesterday the European Commission also emphasized that improving the situation of Romani people is one of the greatest challenges Europe faces.  full story

Czech Republic: Ostrava ghetto residents want out, but not to residential hotels

Ostrava, 2.4.2013 17:28, (ROMEA) They have to heat with wood, they have no electricity, and they continue to draw their potable water from a single shared faucet. This is how the last residents remaining in building number 8 on the ghetto of Přednádraží street in Ostrava live now. Even though the residents have begun slowly repairing the building with the aid of money from various donors, most of those who spoke to the Czech Press Agency claim they would like to move out of the locality.  full story

Czech town orders slumlord to remove tons of garbage from condemned building

Ústí nad Labem, Předlice, 28.3.2013 15:36, (ROMEA) News server iDNES.cz reports that the Ústí nad Labem town hall has ordered the removal of tons of garbage from a building in the Předlice quarter. The sad state of the structure was recently pointed out to them by the Konexe association, which helps impoverished Romani people in Ústí nad Labem.  full story

Commentary: Czech antigypsyism, or, a report on the state of the country

Prague, 26.3.2013 23:57, (ROMEA) I have been systematically reporting on the lives of people living in ghettos, the activity of the ultra-right, and the state of the media with respect to the topic of Romani people, including analysis and criticism. My experiences in doing this work, or rather the topics I have been involved with during it, are alarming.  full story

AI: The President’s visit to Ostrava should send a strong signal against discrimination of Roma

Ostrava, 15.3.2013 17:03, (ROMEA) The new President of the Czech Republic is visiting the city of Ostrava today. In Ostrava and the Czech Republic at large, Roma are experiencing widespread discrimination in access to adequate housing, education, healthcare and protection from violence and harassment.  full story

Benefit concert in Prague for resisters of gentrification in Ostrava

Prague, 14.3.2013 15:14, (ROMEA) A benefit concert to raise money to repair building no. 8 on Přednádraží street in Ostrava will be held this Sunday 17 March at 20:00 at the Café V Lese in Prague (http://cafevlese.cz/en). The program is jam-packed.  full story

Nine families still at risk of eviction and homelessness in Ostrava

Ostrava, 1.3.2013 17:21, (ROMEA) News server iDNES.cz reports that people living in the residential hotel on Božkova street in Ostrava now have only three months in which to find new homes. The municipal department of Moravská Ostrava a Přívoz will be closing it at the end of May and will not be offering the tenants substitute accommodation, but the nine families have nowhere to go. As news server Romea.cz reported 14 days ago, they have no money and are at risk of ending up on the street.  full story