Two masked, unidentified men threw Molotov cocktails at a residential hotel in the Czech town of Aš, home to two Romani families as well as non-Romani residents. One bottle struck a window and another struck the main door. Residents put the fire out themselves. Police are investigating the case as one of racially motivated reckless endangerment. No one was physically injured. Police have summoned reinforcements to Aš from Cheb to monitor the situation for the next few days.
The attack has been condemned by Czech Deputy Prime Minister Karolína Peake (Public Affairs – VV). Mayor of Aš Dalibor Blažek said the residential hotel houses two Romani families and non-Romani workers. For the time being it is not clear how many people were put at risk.
„The perpetrators were two men who were thin and about 180 cm tall. Police are asking any witnesses of this incident to call 158,“ police spokesperson Pavel Valenta said in a public statement. The attack took place at 2:30 AM in Nádražní street. The assailants then fled in the direction of Palackého street.
The Molotov cocktails damaged the plaster and set fire to the window of an apartment where people were sleeping. The main door to the building also caught fire, but residents put both fires out. „The fire didn’t get in because the windows are double-paned and the bottle made it through the first pane only,“ Valenta told news server iDNES.cz.
The Czech Press Agency has reported that firefighters intervened at the scene. The precise number of Molotov cocktails used in the attack was not given by the police spokesperson. Continue reading Czech Republic: Yet another arson attack on a building with Romani tenants
Category Archives: Tschechien
Human rights official: Segregation of Roma at school not changing
Segregation of Romany children at school is not much decreasing in spite of the criticism which the country has faced for a long time, Czech Government Human Rights Commissioner Monika Simunkova told CTK Monday in reaction to the Council of Europe’s (CE) latest report.
The report was released by Human Rights Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg released Monday.
He writes that too many Romany children are still placed in special [newly called practical] schools in spite of a law from 2004 that was designed to improve the situation.
It is estimated that 30 percent of Romany children are sent to these schools over their light mental disability, compared with a mere 2 percent of non-Romany children.
Under the Education Ministry’s decrees only children with a light mental handicap are to attend practical schools if their parents give an informed consent as from the current 2011/2012 school year.
Simunkova said, however, the light mental disorder is often mixed up with social disadvantage.„The situation is not changing, unfortunately. The Czech Republic should do more in this respect,“ Simunkova said.
She said the steps of the strategy against social exclusion the government passed last year must start to be pushed through.
One of them is the strengthening of pre-school preparation. Children from ghettos should this way learn the abilities and habits necessary for managing the attendance of regular schools and the lessons.
They should be helped by assistants who would be financed from the money earmarked for funding the practical schools, Simunkova said.Hammarberg’s report also speaks about collective violent crimes against Romanies in the Czech Republic and Hungary, for instance.
The latest such case happened in the night from Saturday to Sunday when two unknown men threw several Molotov cocktails into a dormitory in As, west Bohemia, where also Romanies live.
Hammarberg also pointed to forced sterilisation of some Romany women in the past.
The Government Human Rights Council has recommended to the government that the state compensate the victims. The government might discuss the proposal in a few months.The Czech Republic lost a lawsuit with 18 young Romanies from north Moravia at the European Human Rights Court in November 2007 already.
According to the verdict the Czech Republic breached the Romanies‘ right to education and discriminated against them when it relocated the Romany children to special schools.
Quelle: Prague Daily Monitor
Stand: 28.02.2012
Strasbourg Court tells Czech Republic to pay compensation for death of Romani man at police station
The European Court for Human Rights (ECtHR) decided today that Czech authorities did not sufficiently investigate the circumstances under which 23-year-old Vladimír Pecha died at a police station in Brno in June 2002. The court ruled that many procedural errors had been committed and that the death of the young man, who weighed only 58 kg, would not have occurred had police officers not led him past windows without bars and had they had kept better watch over him. The judgment is available here: http://cmiskp.echr.coe.int/tkp197/view.asp?item=1&portal=hbkm&action=html&highlight=Eremi%E1%u0161ov%E1&sessionid=86633519&skin=hudoc-en
„The Court came to the opinion that Mr Pecha’s right to life was violated,“ David Zahumenský, chair of the League of Human Rights, said today. The Court has awarded compensation to the deceased man’s loved ones in the amount of EUR 20 0000 (about CZK 506 000) and another EUR 4 000 eur (about 101 000) as compensation for their court costs.
Zahumenský says the case is the first-ever instance of the ECtHR criticizing the Czech Republic for violating the right to life. „We hope this precedent will motivate the Czech Republic to improve its approach toward investigating cases wherein police are suspected of abusing their power or where crime victims are concerned,“ Zahumenský told the Czech Press Agency today.
The ECtHR criticized the fact that the police escort neglected the Romani man’s security when he was in their custody. The youth was not handcuffed and the officers led him past a window with no bars on it. Other mistakes were made during the investigation of his death. The ECtHR found that the Czech authorities‘ investigation had been based entirely on the police officers‘ statements and testimony, which means it cannot be considered entirely independent. Continue reading Strasbourg Court tells Czech Republic to pay compensation for death of Romani man at police station
Czech neo-Nazis going to Rotava this weekend brought German neo-Nazis to last fall’s protest there
On Saturday, 29 October 2011, the Workers‘ Social Justice Party (Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti – DSSS) held an anti-Romani demonstration in Rotava (Sokolov district) together with neo-Nazis from Germany. The DSSS has itself been infiltrated by neo-Nazis, including its cells in the Karlovy Vary region.
One section of Rotava, a small town on the border between the Czech Republic and Germany, is generally considered to have the most socially excluded locality in the entire Karlovy Vary region. Support from local residents is the main reason the DSSS is returning to Rotava this weekend. The website Antifa.cz covers this topic and has published an extensive new article, „Nazis in Rotava“, which news server Romea.cz is excerpting below. The full article can be read (in Czech only) at http://www.antifa.cz/content/nackove-v-rotave .
There are roughly 13 localities on the territory of the Karlovy Vary region that can be considered „socially excluded“. In 2005 the Czech Labor and Social Affairs Ministry commissioned the „Analysis of Socially Excluded Romani Localities and Communities and the Absorption Capacity of Entities Working in the Area“ (Analýza sociálně vyloučených romských lokalit a komunit a absorpční kapacity subjektů, působících v této oblasti). In that analysis, Rotava was labeled as the most socially excluded locality in the whole region. At the time, news server Romea.cz published the following commentary, from which we now cite the following as having been prescient:
„Municipalities often do not know what to do to address the bad situation in which residents of these localities find themselves. Most residents live in privately-owned buildings which the town and villages have no influence over. Other towns in the region with predominantly Romani neighborhoods include Aš, Cheb, Kraslice and Sokolov, while small villages also have such neighborhoods. However, the approach taken by the private owners of the buildings is not uniform. For example, on Wolkerova street in Cheb, the landlords have made almost no investment into repairing their properties, while in Sokolov the buildings have gradually been repaired. However, once such properties are renovated, a large part of their original tenants have to leave them. The town that social workers consider a ticking time bomb is Rotava. In recent years, dozens of Romani people from all over the region have been moving there.“ Continue reading Czech neo-Nazis going to Rotava this weekend brought German neo-Nazis to last fall’s protest there
Roma-Hetze in Tschechien
Hass auf die Nachbarn
Jedes Wochenende herrscht Belagerungszustand: Die Roma im tschechischen Varnsdorf verbarrikadieren sich in ihrem Haus, draußen marschieren die grölenden Ultrarechten auf. Am meisten Angst haben die Belagerten vor Hasstouristen aus dem Ausland – den Neonazis aus Deutschland.
Jetzt spielen es sogar schon die Kinder. „Zigeuner ins Gas“, tönt es dann mit heller Stimme. Beim ersten Mal ging Julius Danko noch ans Fenster. „Hört auf! Wisst ihr denn eigentlich, was ihr da sagt?“, rief der 49-Jährige den Nachbarskindern zu. Die spielten „Demonstranten und Polizei“ unten im Hof des ehemaligen Hotels „Sport“. Zuvor hatten sie ausgelost, wer Demonstrant sein muss. Wer will schon den „Bösen“ spielen? Auch wenn man dabei aus vollem Hals krakeelen kann. Also losen die Kinder die Rollen aus.
Das Leben hat für Julius Danko zu viele Nieten bereitgehalten. Vor gut drei Jahren hatte der Familienvater einen Herzinfarkt. Damit begann der Abstieg der Familie, der mit dem Umzug ins „Sport“ vor einem Jahr sein Ende fand. Jetzt sitzt er mit seiner fünfköpfigen Familie in einer 55-Quadratmeter-Wohnung. Über das Sofa haben sie ein Gemälde mit einer lächelnden Nackten gehängt. Auf dem Schrank hat Dankos Frau Verona mächtige Plastikblumen platziert, außerdem haben sie ein Handtuch mit buntem Urwaldvogel als Schmuck an die Wand gehämmert. „Wir haben nicht viel, aber wir machen das Beste daraus“, wischt Verona Dankova über die Diskrepanz zwischen der üppigen Nackten und dem kreischbunten Tukan hinweg.
Die Familie hat bessere Zeiten gesehen. Damals, als Verona und ihr Mann beide einen Job hatten und man in einem Haus mit Garten wohnte. Die Kinder konnten im Sommer in einem aufblasbaren Becken plantschen. „Ich hatte sogar eine kleine Tomatenzucht“, erzählt Verona Dankova. Sie lächelt dabei, aber es ist ein angespanntes Lächeln. In nicht mal zwei Stunden wird vor dem Haus das geschehen, was die Kinder im Hinterhof so oft lautstark nachspielen. In Varnsdorf wird an diesem Wintersonntag wieder marschiert.
Eigentlich haben die Demonstranten längst erreicht, was sie wollen. Die Dankos wünschen sich nur eines, dass sie hier endlich weg können. In eine Wohnung in einem sichereren Teil der Stadt, weit weg vom „Sport“ – aber wie sollen sie sich die Miete von der kleinen Invalidenrente leisten? Und vielleicht kommen dahin auch wieder die Rechten? Continue reading Roma-Hetze in Tschechien
Czech town of Rotava rents right-wing extremists meeting space
Romani residents of the Czech town of Rotava are expressing their dissatisfaction with the fact that the Workers‘ Social Justice Party (Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti – DSSS) will be holding an event there. News server iDNES.cz reports that the town hall has rented out its „Slovanský dům“ cultural center to the party for an event on 28 January. Local Romani residents consider the meeting planned in Rotava by party chair Vandas to be a provocation.
Mayor Iva Kalátová argued to iDNES.cz that the hall was not being rented by the town, but by the cultural and information center itself, and that there was no reason to reject the party if what will be held there is a meeting. „We do not have the right to ban it,“ the mayor said.
Kalátová’s statement makes it seem as if the cultural and information center is an independent entity and as if the mayor had no influence over the decision. However, Hana Mašková of the center claims to be just an employee. She says the center is linked to the municipality and she cannot take independent decisions: „Madame Mayor and the other town councilors knew about this rental,“ Mašková elucidated to news server Romea.cz.
Kalátová made a statement to news server Romea.cz about the rental at the start of January. When asked for a statement on what the DSSS had posted on their website about the upcoming event, she replied: „I don’t follow the DSSS website. However, the town, as the owner of those spaces, has the right to rent them to those who are interested. The DSSS was interested.“ Deputy Mayor Jan Šedlbauer commented on the rental at the start of January as follows: „I personally know nothing about this rental of space to the DSSS. Madame Mayor is responsible for those decisions.“
„This is unnecessary, things are calm in Rotava. We will not be protesting against their event. It does worry us that the town has given the Workers‘ Party permission and rented the Slovanský dům to it. That’s bad news,“ Robert Koky of the Romani association Meta told iDNES.cz. Last fall Meta declared that it intended to get children off the street and improve the situation inside the Romani community.
Quelle: Romea.cz
Stand: 20.01.2012
Hundreds gather for anti-Roma rally in Varnsdorf
Some 200 people yesterday attended a meeting in support of a local family that was allegedly attacked by Romanies in Varnsdorf on January 1, and they criticised the Town Hall for not solving the security situation in the town.
The protesters blame politicians for not having reported on the incident truthfully. Local politicians namely said after the attack that the man may have caused the injuries himself under the influence of alcohol and that the assault was not recorded by a camera-monitoring system.
None of the assaulted family’s members came to the meeting on the square in Varnsdorf.However, a daughter of the allegedly attacked man thanked the participants for their support in a latter that the organisers read loud.
Five Romanies allegedly assaulted her parents outside the Sport dormitory in Varnsdorf in the night on January 1. The police classified the act of one of the perpetrators as racially motivated.
Local residents criticised the town management for passivity.
They recalled that the Town Hall promised after the previous protests last August and September to open a police station outside the Sport dormitory but it has no done it yet.
The Town Hall says it is to be opened next week.Crime has been rising lately in towns in northern Bohemia’s Sluknov area, known for tense relations between the majority population and Romanies. Local residents blame Romanies for the crimes, mainly frequent thefts and assaults.
„No one is dealing with it. Then anti-Romany moods arise. And these protests are their consequences,“ said Josef Masin, who organised a meeting in the nearby Rumburk on August 26, 2011, which stirred up a wave of anti-Romany protests in the Sluknov area.
Almost 1000 people took part in the so far largest rally held in Varnsdorf on September 10. Policemen prevented the protesters from approaching Romanies‘ dormitories. Supporters of extremist movements also took part in the event.
Some extremists attended yesterday’s meeting. A flag of the far-right Workers‘ Party of Social Justice (DSSS), successor to the abolished Workers‘ Party (DS), appeared in the crowd. Police monitored the meetings, but they did not have to interfere.
Quelle: Prague Daily Monitor
Stand: 16.01.2012
Romani woman murdered in Prague, locals allege perpetrators are Nazis
Three youths who have recently confessed to murdering a Romani woman in the Prague 3 district of Jarov were not first-time offenders but had previously assaulted a homeless couple not far from a trail that leads from a local housing estate there into a wooded area. Local residents say the youths did not attack homeless people only, but basically anyone they felt like targeting.
„All three of them are young guys who have been getting ready to do something like this ever since they were little. It doesn’t even really surprise me. The oldest assailant is from a broken home and his mother evidently couldn’t manage him. He’s done whatever he wanted. Everyone knew they had been in conflicts with the homeless people. A year ago they threw stones at them. One of them is also part of a group that attacked me when my wife and I were out for a walk,“ a local resident told news server Romea.cz, who did not want his name published out of fear for his safety.
Other homeless people in the area confirmed the frequent assaults, openly describing the attackers as sympathizers of right-wing extremist movements who have been giving the Nazi salute in the streets. Another local resident also confirms that claim. „They attacked me when I was walking my dog. They sit on the benches here. There are always between two to six of them. They drink cheap wine there. I know they sometimes made racist remarks. Once my neighbor and I walked past them and my neighbor was playing music on his mobile phone. They immediately started assaulting us, they even threatened to punch me. I defended myself verbally, as I instruct my students to do. One of them was older and more heavy-set, the others were younger and smaller. I went to elementary school with one of them, they attended the remedial classes. In my opinion they’re just stupid Nazi wannabes,“ the man told Romea.cz. Continue reading Romani woman murdered in Prague, locals allege perpetrators are Nazis
Shooting of Roma man stokes tensions
Unresolved New Year’s Eve death increases division in North Bohemia
Tanvald, north Bohemia
For the Roma minority of Tanvald, a quiet town of 10,000 in north Bohemia’s Jizerské Mountains, the Jan. 7 burial of 22-year-old Ladislav Tatár required by-the-books organization. Observed by a population fearing retribution for a mysterious New Year’s Eve shooting that left Tatár dead and his older brother injured, community leaders sought to ensure no clashes marred the funeral and memorial march, despite a martial atmosphere that has pervaded the town since the incident.
Tanvald Mayor Petr Polák had summoned national anti-conflict police to prevent the type of ethnic clashes that erupted elsewhere in north Bohemia during the late summer of 2011. These officers looked on as a crowd of 300-plus accompanied Tatár’s coffin to the hilltop cemetery, somberly observing traditional Roma rituals. Six men bore Tatár’s coffin out of the church, knocking it superstitiously against the threshold to ensure the deceased’s soul would not return. Others navigated mourners and supported devastated family members, some of whom lost consciousness during the ceremony.
„A Roma funeral is a serious thing,“ Tatár’s older cousin, Ladislav Husák, later commented. „They thought it might turn into a demonstration, but it was absolutely impossible that anyone’s behavior would be out of line at such an important event, even if what we are dealing with here was basically an execution.“
That word, „execution,“ was a term Tanvald’s Roma community used frequently to describe Tatár’s death, raising the hairs of local officials who fear the tragedy may cause regional ethnic violence to spill over into their small towns. Continue reading Shooting of Roma man stokes tensions
Auch 2012: Antiziganismus in Tschechien
von Lara Schultz
In den ersten Stunden des Jahres 2012 erschießt ein Rentner im nordböhmischen Tanvald einen 22-jährigen Rom und verletzt dessen Bruder schwer. Zeugen gibt es keine, so steht Aussage gegen Aussage. Er habe in Notwehr gehandelt, da er mit einem Messer angegriffen worden sei, sagt der 63-Jährige, der nach seiner Vernehmung noch in der Neujahrsnacht wieder auf freien Fuß gesetzt wurde. Die Brüder seien außerdem auf Beutezug gewesen. Der jugendliche Überlebende fürchtet derweil um sein Leben. Er versteckt sich derzeit bei Verwandten und verlässt aus Angst die Wohnung nicht mehr. Seine Version der Ereignisse klingt vollkommen anders. Das Internetportal romea.cz zitiert ihn wie folgt:
Ich ging hinter meinem Bruder her und schaute auf meine Füße, damit ich nicht stolpere. Dort gibt es keine Straßenlaternen, es war dunkel. Plötzlich hörte ich einen Schuss, mein Bruder viel mir blutüberströmt vor die Füße. Ich hatte keine Ahnung, was los war. Ich kniete mich neben ihn und schrie ihn an, er möge mit mir sprechen. In diesem Moment sah ich den Mann, wie er über mir stand, hörte einen weiteren Schuss und verspürte einen starken Schmerz im Bauch.
Er weist außerdem den Vorwurf zurück, er und sein Bruder wären zum Klauen unterwegs gewesen.
Zu einer Ortsbegehung wurde nur der Täter, nicht aber das überlebende Opfer geladen. Die Ermittler kamen dann auch zu dem Schluss, der Rentner habe ich Notwehr gehandelt. Der Täter habe sich gegen eine Messerattacke geschützt, teilte die zuständige Kreisstaatsanwältin Lenka Bradačová mit, somit handle es sich also nicht um Mord. Durch Gutachten soll nun geprüft werden, inwiefern der Einsatz der Schusswaffe in der Situation angemessen war. Eine rassistisch motivierte Tat wurde übrigens von Anfang an ausgeschlossen, obwohl der Bürgermeister Petr Polák (Bürgerdemokraten, ODS) von aktuellen ethnischen Spannungen zwischen der Mehrheitsbevölkerung und den Roma spricht. Unlängst wurden Roma aus anderen Teilen Tschechien uns der Slowakei in der 7.000-Einwohner-Stadt angesiedelt.
Die Trauerfeier für das Opfer musste von mehreren Dutzend Polizisten geschützt werden, die den Friedhof absperrten und eine Gruppe abhielten, die Beerdigung zu stören. Ein Mann aus der Gruppe sagte gegenüber der tschechischen Presseagentur ČTK:
Er war weit entfernt davon, unschuldig zu sein. Sie [die Roma] müssen wissen, dass wir uns verteidigen werden, wir werden es nicht zulassen, ausgeraubt und angegriffen zu werden. Wir haben Kinder und wir bekommen Angst, sie allein auf die Straße zu lassen.
Auch im nordböhmischen Varnsdorf gehen seit Beginn des Jahres die antiziganistischen Ausschreitungen weiter. Nachdem die antiziganistischen Demonstrationen Ende Oktober 2011 mit Wintereinbruch zum Erliegen gekommen waren, gab es an den ersten beiden Wochenenden des neuen Jahres wieder Aufmärsche mit 50 bzw. 200 Teilnehmenden. Wie bereits im Herbst wird ein angeblicher Rassismus der Roma gegenüber der Mehrheitsbevölkerung als Begründung herangezogen. Tatsächlich wurde eine dreiköpfige Familie in der Neujahrsnacht mit Verletzungen in Krankenhaus eingeliefert. Am 2. Januar erstatteten sie Anzeige, sie seien vor dem „Hotel Sport“ (einer der Sammelunterkünfte für Roma in Varnsdorf) von Roma angegriffen worden. Seit den Ausschreitungen im Herbst wird das Gebiet mit Videokameras überwacht. Von einem derartigen Angriff war auf dem Überwachungsvideo nichts zu sehen.