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Antiziganismus auf politischer Ebene, Antiziganismus von Rechts, Antiziganistische Übergriffe, Beiträge auf Deutsch, Fundstücke, Posts in English, Tschechien

Czech extremists riding on anti-Roma wave

The far-right extra-parliamentary Workers‘ Party of Social Justice (DSSS) is making the most of the current anti-Roma atmosphere and will receive so many votes in the Czech early election that the state will pay a contribution to it, daily Lidove noviny (LN) writes Saturday, referring to experts.

Far-right extremists have not had a place in top politics since 1998 when the SPR-RSC, headed by Miroslav Sladek, was not re-elected to the Chamber of Deputies, LN writes. The paper points to the case of the Stare Zdanice village, east Bohemia, with some 700 residents. Some of them resent the noise and disorder allegedly produced by local Roma, it adds. The locals resolved the problem in their peculiar way, by inviting the DSSS for a public rally there, LN writes. The case of the village has confirmed the fear of foreign institutions that an increasing number of people tend to champion the extremists‘ cause, it adds.

„The people do not advocate any racist or extremist ideas, but they intensively resolve the problem in their place of residence. They have the feeling that political elites do not help them in this,“ Petra Vejvodova, from the Masaryk University in Brno, told the paper. Vejvodova is a specialist in far-right extremism. The growing resentment of the „unadaptive Roma“ is used by the DSSS, LN writes. However, the party is unlikely to cross the five-percent threshold necessary to enter the Chamber of Deputies, it adds. „I think it can get some 3 percent of votes,“ Vejvodova said. However, if local elections were held now, the extremists would score a bigger success, she added.

Josef Zouhar, author of expert reports on extremism, said he believed the party would double its 2009 result when it gained 1,14 percent of votes. The party also has some competition, Zouhar said. „Some moderate, but still radical voters, will be won over by Tomio Okamura’s Dawn of Direct Democracy and the DSSS will also vie for voters‘ favour with the political project launched by Jana Bobosikova,“ he added. „Who is an extremist? The man who resents the disorder and filth in the street?“ senator Okamura wrote to LN. „Or the man who is outraged at the current political elite that does not care about him, that lies to him and cheats him? Yes, this is my voter,“ he added.

Okamura is to win over extremist voters by his recently repeated statement about Roma, LN writes. Okamura said they should seek their own state or move from the Czech Republic to some Indian state, it adds. The experts agree that the DSSS is almost certain to get the state contribution. If elected by at least 1.5 percent, the Finance Ministry will pay 100 crowns per one vote to it annually. The DSSS is a successor to the Workers‘ Party (DS). The Supreme Administrative Court (NSS) dissolved the DS in February 2010, concluding that its programme, ideas and symbols contain the elements of xenophobia, chauvinism, homophobia and racism. At present, the DSSS is ready to finance its campaign from its e-shop and sponsorship gifts from its following. „As we have no rich sponsors, no coal moguls and the like, the campaign will be rather modest. But this will be enough to address the general public,“ party leader Tomas Vandas is quoted as saying. The early general election is scheduled for October 25-26.

Source: Prague Daily Monitor
Date: 14.09.2013

Analyse und Kritik des Antiziganismus, Antiziganismus von Rechts, Antiziganistische Übergriffe, Fundstücke, Posts in English, Ungarn

New investigations, compensation for Roma murders in Hungary

The investigations into a series of murders against members of Hungary’s Roma community in 2008 and 2009 have been re-opened, with a focus on investigators‘ failures and potential wrongdoing in the case.

Pressure put on Hungary’s government by human rights activists and lawyers has apparently worked. Hungary’s National Bureau of Investigation (NNI), the country’s central police investigation office primarily dealing with terrorism and other national security threats, is reopening its investigation into a series of Roma killings that took place in 2008 and 2009. One or more suspected conspirators remain free.

During the two-year murder spree, right-wing extremists undertook nine arson attacks and other crimes, resulting in six deaths. In addition, 55 people, nearly all of whom were Roma, suffered life-threatening and other injuries. A handful of suspected murderers were apprehended in August 2009, and their trial began in early 2011. Recently, in early August, they were sentenced. Three received life in prison, and an accomplice was sent to prison for 13 years. Each of them has since appealed the rulings. Continue reading New investigations, compensation for Roma murders in Hungary →

Analyse und Kritik des Antiziganismus, Antiziganismus von Rechts, Antiziganistische Übergriffe, Beiträge auf Deutsch, Fundstücke, Posts in English, Ungarn

Who Do Modern-Day European Nazis Hate the Most?

A recent trial highlights horrible abuse of the Roma minority group.

The chamber in the Municipal Court of Budapest was packed, observers crammed into sweaty overflow rooms staring at closed circuit television screens and anxiously awaiting the verdict. As these rooms filled, an unwieldy queue formed outside as an incongruous gaggle of journalists, victims‘ family, and some skinhead supporters of the accused implored court officials to let them in to hear the verdict. Arpad Kiss, his brother Istvan, their friend Zsolt Peto, and accomplice Istvan Csontos stood dead-eyed in front on the judge, flanked by masked policemen. Today Peto wore a buttoned-up collared shirt that covered up his „88“ tattoo — a numerical reference to „Heil Hitler.“

Four years ago in a bar in Debrecen in eastern Hungary, fuelled by the neo-Nazi skinhead underground culture, these men devised a plan to commit a series of violent attacks on the country’s Roma minority, who comprise around 8 percent of the population of 10 million. Using a combination of guns and Molotov cocktails, the gang killed six Roma, including a four-year-old child, and injured over 50.

Relations between Roma and non-Roma have been historically tense, particularly since the fall of Communism, when the factories where many Roma were employed closed, and they descended to a new level of grinding poverty. In the 2010 elections, the far-right nationalist movement Jobbik won 17 percent of the popular vote by stirring up anger and distrust of Roma, repeating the mantra of „Gypsy crime“ to the point where many voters attribute theft to be one of their genetic traits. During the trial, it was suggested by the prosecutors that the killers intended to provoke Roma communities into retaliating violently, thus triggering an inter-ethnic conflict. Continue reading Who Do Modern-Day European Nazis Hate the Most? →

Antiziganismus von Rechts, Antiziganistische Übergriffe, Fundstücke, Posts in English, Tschechien

Czech Republic: Hundreds of rampaging neo-Nazis attempt pogrom against Romani people in Ostrava

An anti-Roma march by neo-Nazis attended by between 600 – 800 people ended in clashes with police today in Ostrava. Police arrested more than 60 people and both neo-Nazis and police officers were injured.

The most serious incidents took place at the intersection of Mariánskohorská and Nádražní Streets. Police officers halted neo-Nazis there who had been doing their best to reach Svatopluk Čech Square, where a Romani demonstration had taken place before noon.mBottles, firecrackers, garbage cans, rocks and smoke bombs were sent flying through the air. Police used tear gas several times. For more on other hate marches that took place around the country, please see: http://www.romea.cz/en/news/czech/czech-republic-real-time-coverage-online-of-more-than-five-simultaneous-anti-roma-hate-marches

Around 600 – 800 neo-Nazis, according to police, met on Prokešovo Square in front of the New Town Hall in Ostrava just after 14:00, from where they then set out on a march through the town which other people joined. By that time, most of the approximately 600 Romani residents who had gathered on Svatopluk Čech Square were no longer there. Organizers of the neo-Nazi event had supposedly reached agreement with representatives of the centrally-located Moravská Ostrava a Přívoz Municipal Department on the route the march would take. However, they abandoned that route once they were several dozen meters away from the town hall; instead of heading down Zborovská Street, they headed down Sokolská Street toward Svatopluk Čech Square in the Přívoz quarter.

Jana Pondělíčková, spokesperson for the municipal department, told the Czech News Agency that the local council had been unable to do anything about the fact that the marchers deviated from the announced route because the assembly as such had been officially ended before the march began. According to Regional Police Director Tomáš Kužel, police had no reason to intervene because the march was calm at the start and no one was committing any illegal behavior. On Sokolská Street the neo-Nazis attempted a pogrom against the residents of the Halfway House (Dům na půli cesty), which is occupied by Romani people and others. „The demonstrators started throwing bottles and rocks, damaging the building and threatening the health and lives of the people living there, so police began to organize an intervention that last several hours,“ Kužel said. The rampaging neo-Nazis continued on their way, and what had been a united mob until then broke up into different groups at Božena Němcová Orchard. The neo-Nazis began running in an effort to reach Svatopluk Čech Square, and some succeeded, but police then pushed them back.

Police held most of the demonstrators in the orchard, where clashes occurred. The mob finally moved toward the intersection of Mariánskohorská and Nádražní Streets, where several dozen more neo-Nazis who had been hiding in a nearby courtyard joined them. The neo-Nazis then began assaulting police and destroying property. The most hard-core Nazis finally ended up on the outskirts of a local housing estate. Neo-Nazis overturned garbage containers near the local supermarket and used bottles and rocks to assault police. However, the number of right-wing extremists involved began to gradually decline. Just before 17:00, police officers used vehicles to barricade the intersection of Mariánskohorská and Nádražní Streets. Most of the demonstrators therefore fled toward the town center.

After 17:00, police officers called on the remaining dozens of protesters to vacate the scene. Police officers from an anti-conflict team did their best to negotiate with them. Police subsequently arrested the radicals, several of whom were taken out of a restaurant on Nádražní Street, where some of the protesters had ended up. Public transport was disrupted during the protests, but service was restored in full at around 18:45. According to Kužel, about 300 police officers directly participated in the security operation. The arrested right-wing radicals are suspected of bodily harm, rioting, and violence against public officials. Kužel said many automobiles were damaged in the town, both civilian cars and the vehicles of police who participated in the intervention. The police director also said three police officers were injured as well as several right-wing radicals, although he was unable to give an exact number of protesters injured.

Kužel is of the opinion that police handled the intervention well. The situation in the town was calm by evening. „The situation in Ostrava is totally calm, there are no groups of people committing illegal behavior anywhere,“ he said after 19:00. An anti-Romani demonstration entitled „Stop racial attacks“ had originally been officially permitted to begin at the memorial in the Komenský Orchards. Pavel Matějný of the neo-Nazi „Czech Lions“ (Čeští lvi) organization had attempted to organize a similar gathering, only to have it banned by authorities, but he eventually held his protest on Prokešovo Square. Matějný joined forces with the organizer of the „Stop racial attacks“ demonstration, and those attending that event moved to Prokešovo Square. There they signed petitions „For the rights of the decent citizen in the Czech Republic“, demanding politicians harshly stamp out abuse of the welfare system.

Romani people had gathered on Svatopluk Čech Square before noon. Jolana Šmarhovyčová, an organizer of that event, said a total of six buses brought Romani residents to the scene of the protest from residential hotels around Ostrava. There were several organizers wearing yellow vests and so-called security coordinators at the Romani event. „My task is to keep watch and make sure people don’t leave the square for the side streets, but that they stay here,“ one of them told the Czech News Agency before the event began. The regional capital was besieged by municipal and state police several hours before the event began. Officers checked vehicles, including buses, traveling along the access routes into town. Police used riot units, officers with dogs, and mounted police during today’s security operation. Anti-conflict teams were on the move around town and a police helicopter monitored the situation from the air. Both municipal and state police officers also used mobile video camera systems.

Source: Romea.cz
Date: 25.08.2013

Antiziganistische Übergriffe, Fundstücke, Posts in English, Slowakei

Police: Suspects fire on Roma family with machine gun

UNKNOWN suspects allegedly fired 22 shots from a machine gun into the courtyard of a Roma family home in Horná Kráľová near Šaľa while shouting “dirty Gypsies come out” on July 31. Nobody was hurt during the attack. Police officials said they are not considering it a hate crime, but rather a case of causing damage to private property, according to the daily Sme.

According to witnesses, at approximately 3 a.m. two cars stopped in front of the house with angry men who firstly poured inflammable liquid at the gates and then started firing at the house and car of the 35-year old resident. Some reports are linking the incident to an earlier fight at a local pub over a broken glass, according to TV Markíza.

There are two generations of people living in the house who were hiding under the beds during the attack, Sme reported.

The suspects damaged a car, the gate and windows of the house; and the crime scene technician detained 22 cartridges from type-58 machine gun, Božena Bruchterová, the Police Department in Nitra spokesperson told the SITA newswire. Police are still investigating a motive. The suspects allegedly left the scene before police arrived and were not masked, according to Sme.

Source: The slovak spectator
Date: 01.08.2013

Fundstücke, Geschichte des Antiziganismus, Posts in English, Serbien

Dark history hangs over tycoon’s plan for Balkan mega-mall

Lucija Rajner last saw her father, Vladislav, on November 14, 1941, through a barbed-wire fence at a concentration camp in Belgrade.

That autumn, Rajner and her mother passed food, letters and bedding to him, until a guard told them he wouldn’t need such supplies anymore. Rajner never learned his fate, but assumes he died the same way as 6,000 other Jews and 1,500 Roma who passed through the camp – gunned down or gassed en masse.

The cluster of warehouses that formed the camp known as Topovske Supe still stands; rubbish litters the floors and graffiti scars the walls.

A small plaque is all that marks the location’s dark history. It was screwed to a crumbling brick wall in 2006, when most of the land had already been sold for 27 million euros (22 million pounds) to a retail tycoon who plans to spend 160 million to turn it into the biggest shopping mall in the Balkans.

Rajner and a small group of historians and activists say the destruction of Topovske Supe is emblematic of how far Serbia still has to go in recognising the Holocaust on its soil.

„I don’t know why the state shows this kind of disrespect to things which should not be forgotten,“ said 79-year-old Rajner.

In a region dotted with memorials to Partisan battle victories, the 70,000 Jews who died in Yugoslavia during World War Two were subsumed into the narrative of Yugoslav victims of fascism, part of the doctrine of ‘Brotherhood and Unity‘ propagated by Josip Broz Tito to diminish national and ethnic differences within the federation he ruled from 1945 to 1980.

After Estonia, Serbia was the second Nazi-occupied territory in Europe to be formally declared ‘free of Jews‘ in August 1942, when 90 percent of the country’s 16,000 Jews had perished.

With Tito’s death, unity gave way to the virulent nationalism that would eventually tear Yugoslavia apart, and Serbia began stressing the suffering of Serbs at the hands of Nazi puppet rulers in Croatia. Continue reading Dark history hangs over tycoon’s plan for Balkan mega-mall →

Antiziganismus von Rechts, Antiziganistische Übergriffe, Fundstücke, Posts in English, Tschechien

Czech Republic: Neo-Nazis repeatedly assault Romani social worker in Duchcov

Jan Dufek and Jindřich „Pinďa“ Svoboda, two antigypsyists known for having said they want Romani people to be murdered off, have been targeting Štefan Horvát of Duchcov, who works for the Květina (Flower) civic association as a field social worker. Horvát says these men have been the protagonists in two incidents of both physical and verbal assault against him.

The persecution began during an anti-Romani event earlier this summer, when neo-Nazis threw a plastic bottle at the social worker. In mid-July about 70 Romani people had gathered on Karel Čapek Street in Duchcov in response to a neo-Nazi gathering supported by several local „whites“.

Some of the right-wing extremists set out for Karel Čapek Street after gathering on the main square. Police prevented them from marching into the Romani neighborhood.

„A small group of neo-Nazis and locals from Duchcov came here and started cursing at me. Then a black car drove up with four people inside, two guys and two females. One guy pulled out a plastic bottle half full of beer and threw it at me,“ Štefan Horvát told news server Romea.cz at the time.

Social worker Zlatuše Tomášová confirmed Horvát’s account, adding that „police detained the Nazis and took them in for interrogation along with the victim.“ Police had to address two such incidents related to the assembly in Duchcov that day. Continue reading Czech Republic: Neo-Nazis repeatedly assault Romani social worker in Duchcov →

Antiziganismus von Rechts, Antiziganistische Übergriffe, Posts in English, Ungarn

Verdict in Roma killing spree expected in Hungary

A verdict in the trial of four Hungarians accused of killing six Roma in a wave of cold-blooded attacks is expected Tuesday, as the country continues to struggle with discrimination. Between July 2008 and August 2009, the men allegedly carried out nine assaults against the Roma minority in various northeastern villages, using grenades, guns and Molotov cocktails. In one of the most gruesome attacks, a father and his five-year-old son were gunned down as they tried to flee their house, which the group had set on fire. Another woman was shot in her sleep. In total, six people were killed and five injured in the year-long spree of violence.

Three of the accused — brothers Arpad and Istvan Kiss, and Zsolt Peto — face life in prison if convicted. They have denied carrying out the attacks and have pleaded not guilty to the charges. The fourth — Istvan Csontos, who served as a driver to his accomplices — has pleaded guilty to charges of collusion but insists he did not take part in the murders. He faces a lesser jail sentence. All four — aged 28 to 42 at the time of the crimes — have been in custody since their arrest in August 2009.

The case has found special resonance in a country where the Roma minority, plagued by poverty and high unemployment, is subject to regular discrimination. „Six Hungarians died just because they were Roma,“ the opposition party Together 2014 said Friday in a statement. „This tragedy should be kept alive in our nation’s collective memory, like any other national tragedy,“ it added. Continue reading Verdict in Roma killing spree expected in Hungary →

Antiziganismus von Rechts, Antiziganistische Klischees, Fundstücke, Posts in English, Tschechien

Czech intelligence service: Ordinary citizens‘ anti-Romani sentiments more dangerous than right-wing extremists

The Czech Republic’s Security Information Service (Bezpečnostní informační služba – BIS) has released its quarterly report on developments in the extremist scene on its website. The report says anti-Romani sentiment among a segment of the public could pose a greater problem for state security than small groups of right-wing extremists do.

The report points out that ordinary citizens have recently participated in anti-Romani demonstrations in České Budějovice and Duchcov. The intelligence service believes inter-ethnic tensions must be resolved immediately and pragmatically. The report is available online (in Czech only) at http://www.bis.cz/2013-2q-zprava-extremismus.html

Most of those participating in the recent demonstrations in České Budějovice and Duchcov were ordinary citizens. At these events they have been venting their dissatisfaction with what they view as the insufficient resolution of problems they are experiencing with members of the Romani minority.

„Even though many right-wing extremists were among those participating in these events, their dominant component was comprised of ordinary citizens venting their dissatisfaction with what they view as the insufficient resolution of problems they are experiencing with members of the Romani minority and the approach taken by the public bodies responsible for that area,“ the BIS report reads. The BIS has also pointed out that these ordinary citizens are the ones most affected when disturbances of public order or petty crime is insufficiently addressed in their neighborhoods.

„Even the slightest impulse, combined with latent antigypsyism, means these people want to vent the frustration generated by their everyday problems, and that venting leads to even more radical manifestations,“ the report reads. BIS believes such anti-Romani posturing by ,this segment of the public could, in the long term, pose a greater threat from a security point of view than activities that might be more extreme but are committed by the less numerous and relatively well-mapped groups of right-wing extremists in the country.

„There is a need to begin resolving inter-ethnic tensions immediately, pragmatically, and without emotion. Otherwise, in the long run there is the risk that this problem will gradually escalate, along with the skepticism of part of the public regarding the value of the democratic principles of the Czech Republic,“ the authors of the report warn.

The BIS further noted that the ultra-right Workers‘ Social Justice Party (Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti – DSSS) attempted to exploit the anti-Romani sentiment felt by that segment of society during the past quarter when it held a demonstration in Duchcov on 22 June. The event was attended by roughly 1 000 people, of whom about one-half were DSSS members.

„Despite this relatively high attendance, however, the party did not succeed in exploiting the situation to increase its own popularity. The party was not involved in the demonstrations in České Budějovice,“ the intelligence service pointed out.

„The demonstrations in České Budějovice mainly involved small informal groups of hooligans and right-wing extremists, often from various places all over the country, many of whom initiated the clashes with police officers,“ reads the BIS report. The intelligence service also reported that the DSSS convened a 1 May assembly in Přerov that was attended by between 300 – 400 people and did not involve any disturbances of public order.

Source: Romea.cz
Date: 30.07.2013

Analyse und Kritik des Antiziganismus, Antiziganismus von Rechts, Fundstücke, Posts in English, Tschechien

Czech Republic: Let’s Block the Marches (Blokujeme!) platform wants to stop anti-Romani marches

Individuals and organizations are demanding that the Government of the Czech Republic, municipal representatives and other politicians commit themselves to stopping the anti-Romani marches now being regularly organized by neo-Nazis throughout the entire country. Signatories to the declaration are also turning to civil society to stop the marches as well.

„We refuse to ignore the fact that violent anti-Romani demonstrations and marches have been taking place in this country every weekend. We refuse to just passively follow a situation in which hatred stemming from a lack of information and societal frustration is rising with every day that passes. Our aim is stop these manifestations together,“ reads the declaration of the „Let’s Block the Marches“ (Blokujeme!) platform. News server Romea.cz publishes the full English version below:

Declaration of the “Let’s Block the Marches” (Blokujeme!) platform

We, the undersigned, are responding to the rising wave of hatred, racism, violence and xenophobia in the Czech Republic which is being driven by the generally widespread antigypsyism here.

We refuse to ignore the fact that violent anti-Romani demonstrations and marches have been taking place in this country every weekend. We refuse to just passively follow a situation in which hatred stemming from a lack of information and societal frustration is rising with every day that passes. Our aim is stop these manifestations together.

We are living in an era of a protracted, society-wide crisis which is manifesting itself in our economic, interpersonal, and moral relationships. The elites who bear responsibility for this state of affairs are simply ignoring these open manifestations of racism. They are exploiting this anti-Romani hatred in order draw attention away from their own derelictions. We are witnessing the fact that some political representatives are using anti-Romani rhetoric in their public speeches and exploiting the situations of impoverished people in the Czech Republic to their own advantage.

The Council of Europe, through its Human Rights Commissioner, Nils Muižnieks, has called on the Czech Republic to do the following: “The authorities should send the forceful signal that they will not tolerate any manifestations of hatred!”

We demand the following of the government, of politicians at every level, and of civil society in particular: “Let’s stop this chain of anti-Romani marches! We don’t want a single one of them!”

Updates:

Blockade the marches with us, come to Vítkov! For specific instructions, write to [email protected] or call +420 777 235 137 (production), +420 733 102 462 (press spokesperson).
A transparent bank account is open for your donations to ensure transportation for those participating in the blockade as well as drinking water and portable toilets at the site of these assemblies. In the “subject” line, list “¨Blokujeme!”

Account Name: o.s. Konexe.
IBAN: CZ43 2010 0000 0025 0027 1703.
BIC NO: FIOBCZPPXXX.
Variable symbol: 3332013.
Bank Address: Fio Baka, a.s., V. Celnicki, 1028/10, Prague 1, Czech Republic

Source: Romea.cz
Date: 30.07.2013