Category Archives: Tschechien

Fundstücke, Geschichte des Antiziganismus, Posts in English, Staatlicher Antiziganismus, Tschechien

Pigs to stay near former Roma concentration camp

Sobotka: Czech Cabinet will not pay for demolition of pig farm in Lety

The center-left government of Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka (Social Democrats, ČSSD) will not probably fund the demolition of the pig farm in Lety, situated on the site of a forced labor camp for Romanies during World War II, Sobotka said today.

Over 1,300 Romanies were interned in Lety during the German Nazi occupation, 327 of whom perished in the camp and over 500 were sent to the extermination camp in Auschwitz where most of them died. A memorial to the Romany Holocaust was set up at the former burial ground of the Lety concentration camp for Romanies. However, it is situated near a pig farm that is at the site now. Romanies and human rights activists have protested against it for years. Relatives of the Romany Holocaust victims along with the U.N. Human Rights Committee have demanded that the pig farm be abolished.

At the commemorative act for Romany Holocaust victims today, Sobotka said the tens of million crowns that would be needed to close the pig farm and to build a new one should be spent on different purposes such as education of Romany children and improvement in life conditions in socially excluded localities, primarily inhabited by Romanies. The ceremony was attended by about 100 people.
„I do not have any good feeling from the discussion only being reduced to the question of the pig farm standing nearby,“ Sobotka said. „I think that we should speak about more important things, such as a latent racism that is still present in Czech society, time and time again surfacing,“ Sobotka said. He said the question of the pig farm was very complicated as this was a holding owned by the AGPI Pisek company. The solution would demand large investments, Sobotka said. „I would prefer the money to flow to the education of Romany children, to be devoted on the improvement of social conditions in socially excluded localities because there is not enough money,“ he added. „I can understand the outrage of the people who have come here. This is not a simple affair. So far, none of the governments have been able to come to terms with the problem,“ Sobotka said.

„I do not want to start any confrontation. Sobotka seems to feel deep in his heart that the pig farm should not be here,“ Romany organiser of the commemorative act Cenek Ruzicka said. Almost all of Ruzicka’s family died in the Holocaust. Ruzicka showed a pond near the camp to Culture Minister Daniel Herman (Christian Democrats (KDU-ČSL) where Romany women were forced to wash naked, while the warders sexually abused them.

Source: Prague Post
Date: 10.05.2014

Analyse und Kritik des Antiziganismus, Antiziganismus von Rechts, Antiziganistische Übergriffe, Beiträge auf Deutsch, Frankreich, Fundstücke, Griechenland, Sonst in Europa, Staatlicher Antiziganismus, Tschechien

Amnesty: Diskriminierung wird hingenommen

Amnesty International hat die zunehmenden Angriffe auf Roma kritisiert. Es handele sich um eine systematische Diskriminierung, die oft „stillschweigend“ hingenommen werde. Einige EU-Staaten würden sich mitschuldig machen.

Amnesty International hat die EU-Staaten aufgefordert, entschlossen gegen „zunehmende rassistische Angriffe“ auf Roma vorzugehen. Die systematische Diskriminierung von Roma werde vielerorts „stillschweigend“ hingenommen, kritisierte die Generalsekretärin der deutschen Sektion der Menschenrechtsorganisation, Selmin Caliskan, anlässlich des Internationalen Roma-Tages am Dienstag. Der Menschenrechtsbeauftragte der Bundesregierung, Christoph Strässer (SPD), erklärte, die Lage der Sinti und Roma gebe Anlass „zu großer Sorge“.

„Es ist völlig inakzeptabel, dass an manchen Orten in Europa Roma in ständiger Angst vor gewalttätigen Ausschreitungen oder Anschlägen leben müssen“, erklärte Caliskan. Gewalttäter würden „ermutigt von der passiven Haltung der Regierungen, die eine systematische Diskriminierung von Roma stillschweigend hinnehmen“.

Äußerungen von Politikern, wonach die größte europäische Minderheit für ihre Ausgrenzung selbst verantwortlich sei, nannte Caliskan „eine Verdrehung der Tatsachen“. Vielmehr lasse sich die Situation vieler Roma auf jahrelange Missachtung ihrer Rechte zurückführen. Die EU-Kommission müsse notfalls Vertragsverletzungsverfahren gegen jene Mitgliedstaaten einleiten, die die Anti-Rassismus-Richtlinie „nicht oder nur halbherzig“ umsetzten.

Gewalttätige Polizisten

Als Negativbeispiele führte Caliskan Griechenland, Tschechien und Frankreich an. Dort greife die Polizei bei gewalttätigen Angriffen auf Roma häufig nicht ein und ermittele nicht ernsthaft gegen die Täter. In manchen Staaten wie Griechenland seien es gar die Polizisten selbst, die „mit exzessiver und rassistischer Gewalt gegen Roma vorgehen“.

Die Menschenrechtsorganisation prangert zudem seit langem an, dass viele der schätzungsweise zehn bis zwölf Millionen Roma in Europa systematisch diskriminiert würden, etwa beim Zugang zu Schulen oder dem Recht auf angemessenes Wohnen.

„Die Folgen gesellschaftlicher und sozialer Ausgrenzung, Diskriminierung und Stigmatisierung sind dramatisch“, erklärte SPD-Politiker Strässer. Die soziale Benachteiligung sei „umfassend“ und führe zu „verminderten Chancen auf einen gleichberechtigten Zugang zu Bildung, Arbeit, medizinischer Versorgung und Wohnraum“.

Es sei „unsere gemeinsame Pflicht, der systematischen Ausgrenzung der Roma in vielen Gesellschaften entschlossen entgegenzutreten“. Die Europäische Union werde ihren eigenen Wertemaßstäben nicht gerecht, solange EU-Bürger ohne Perspektive von der Mehrheitsgesellschaft ausgeschlossen lebten. „Dies zu ändern, ist eine gemeinsame Verantwortlichkeit der europäischen Institutionen, aber auch der Mitgliedstaaten“, erklärte der Menschenrechtsbeauftragte.

Quelle: Frankfurter Allgemeine
Stand: 08.04.2014

Analyse und Kritik des Antiziganismus, Antiziganismus von Rechts, Beiträge auf Deutsch, Fundstücke, Tschechien

Rassistische Nazidemos in Tschechien 2014

In folgendem Beitrag sollen zum Einen die Ereignisse des vergangenen Wochenendes zusammengefasst und zum Anderen die bereits angekündigten Demonstrationen tschechischer Neonazis kurz dargestellt werden.

Am zurückliegenden Wochenende begann für die tschechischen Neonazis mit gleich drei Demonstrationen die Saison der auch in diesem Jahr zu befürchtenden Anti-Roma-Märsche. Am Samstag (15. Februar 2014) fanden sowohl in Ostrava und Karlovy Vary als auch erstmalig in Příbram Demonstrationen statt, die allerdings unter ganz unterschiedlichen Mottos standen.

Im mittelböhmischen Příbram versammelten sich rund 30 Nazis, um „Für die Einhaltung der Rechte aller anständigen Bürger dieses Landes, gegen die Finanzierung des antitschechischen und rassistischen Vereins Romea o.s. durch die Regierung der Tsch. Republik“ (sic!) zu demonstrieren. Romea.cz ist ein Informationsportal, das Berichte und Reportagen zum Themenfeld Rassismus und zur Romaminderheit veröffentlicht und sich u.a. durch staatliche Mittel finanziert. Im vergangenen Jahr wurden insbesondere die Anti-Roma-Märsche aufmerksam durch romea.cz beobachtet. Angemeldet wurde die Demonstration in Přibram von Pavel Sládek Matěj, der enge Kontakte zur verbotenen Nazipartei DS („Arbeiterpartei“) und jetzigen DSSS („Arbeiterpartei für soziale Gerechtigkeit“) pflegt und Aktivist der sogenannten „Tschechischen Löwen“ ist. Dabei bestand die Gefahr, dass eine Sammelunterkunft, die unter dem Namen „Saigon“ bekannt ist und u.a. von Roma bewohnt wird, Ziel der Nazidemonstration sein könnte. Nach einer kurzen Ansprache zogen es die versammelten Nazis jedoch vor, eine Bar aufzusuchen. Parallel zur Demonstration fand bei der o.g. Unterkunft ein Kinderfest sowie eine offene Debatte mit Einwohner_innen über bestehende Probleme und mögliche Lösungsansätze statt, die von der Vereinigung KONEXE organisiert wurde. Continue reading Rassistische Nazidemos in Tschechien 2014 →

Antiziganismus auf politischer Ebene, Antiziganismus von Rechts, Antiziganistische Klischees, Fundstücke, Großbritanien, Posts in English, Rumänien, Slowakei, Tschechien, Ungarn

Anti-Roma bias, job fears aid far-right in central Europe

The people of this peaceful village at the foot of the Slovak mountains vented their anger by electing as their regional governor a man who calls his Roma compatriots „parasites“ and admires a wartime figure who collaborated with the Nazis. Marian Kotleba’s landslide victory in November exposed pent-up frustration over unemployment and neglect by mainstream parties, together with a deep-seated animosity towards the Roma, factors that have built support for extremist politicians in Slovakia and elsewhere in central Europe. Still, many were shocked when Kotleba – a former high school teacher who looks back fondly on the Slovak state that was allied with the Nazis during World War Two – came from nowhere to win 77 percent of the vote in Balog, 260 km (160 miles) northeast of Bratislava, the capital. Overall, in the central Slovak region of Banska Bystrica, he won 55 percent, enough to become regional governor and a further sign that some European voters frustrated with the economic crisis were willing to take chances with extremists. Nationalist sentiment is increasingly directed against Slovakia’s Roma, a minority of 400,000 in the country of 5.4 million who live on the fringes of society, suffering from poverty, poor education and limited job prospects. In some settlements they have no access to running water. With European Union expansion opening borders, deprived regions have seen waves of departures, including some of Europe’s 10 million Roma, to countries such as Canada and Britain, where immigration has again become a hot issue. British Prime Minister David Cameron has imposed new regulations on migrants amid fears of an influx of poor people from Romania and Bulgaria, for whom restrictions on free movement within the EU expired at the end of December. Kotleba, who did not respond to requests to be interviewed for this article, ran on a platform that derided „Gypsy parasites“. Some Roma, whose forebears arrived in central Europe from India in the Middle Ages, see Gypsy as a derogatory term. Kotleba once ran a party that was disbanded for racial hatred. The 36-year-old has organized marches in military-style uniforms and praised Jozef Tiso, the wartime leader of Nazi-allied Slovakia. His party’s newsletters talk about „desperate villages and towns suffering from crime and terror from Gypsy extremists“. „We voted for him out of desperation,“ said Martina Strorcova, a pub owner in Cierny Balog. She says local people on low incomes often accuse Roma of drawing welfare benefits while not being willing to work. „It is bad to see how some of us toil and others take social support,“ Strorcova said. The pub in the village centre only has two customers at lunchtime, and Strorcova says business is tough. People who work at the local iron works bring home just 430 euros ($590) a month. The Slovak minimum wage is 337 euros a month, less than 2 euros an hour, against the equivalent of 7.50 euros in Britain. Cierny Balog’s 5,000 inhabitants include about 700 out of work during the winter, said social worker Lubomira Pancikova. „The problem is unemployment, not only among the Roma but overall. Young people run away, men and women in their most productive years,“ Pancikova said. The official jobless rate in the region is 18.1 percent, although in some areas it tops 30 percent. It is the second worst in the country and far above the national average of 13.7 percent. Kotleba promises to create jobs through public works schemes, setting up public companies and farms. „He wants to give normal people, and the Roma, a pick-axe in their hands and make them work,“ said Ivana Galusova, who voted for Kotleba. In fact, Kotleba may not be able to do much. He will be isolated in a regional assembly dominated by Smer, the leftist party of Prime Minister Robert Fico. Continue reading Anti-Roma bias, job fears aid far-right in central Europe →

Antiziganistische Übergriffe, Fundstücke, Posts in English, Tschechien

Young Roma Singers Attacked in the Czech Republic

The head of a Roma youth singing group says her students were attacked in an eastern Czech town. Ida Kelarova, a well-known singer and musician, says 19 singers from the Chavorenge group were attacked by about a dozen men Friday evening in Hodonin. She called the incident „shocking.“ Kelarova said Monday the attackers targeted four singers and kicked them in front of the others, who included eight-year-old children. Nobody was seriously injured. The singers came for rehearsals with the local high school to prepare for two December concerts in the city of Brno with its philharmonic orchestra. Police spokesman Petr Zamecnik said Monday the attackers have not been caught. Some 250,000 Roma, or Gypsies, in the Czech Republic endure high unemployment and are often targeted by far-right groups.

Source: ABC News
Date: 09.12.2013

Analyse und Kritik des Antiziganismus, Beiträge auf Deutsch, Fundstücke, Tschechien

Roma demonstrieren gegen rechte Hetze

Erstmalig haben sich in Tschechien Roma gegen ihre Bedrohung durch Neofaschisten zur Wehr gesetzt. So zogen am Montag rund 200 Menschen spontan durch die Straßen Ostravas, der drittgrößten Stadt in Tschechien und protestierten gegen die von etwa 300 rassistischen Angreifern ausgehende Gefahr. Die Rechten hatten zuvor versucht, ein Fest, das die Roma-Familien auf dem Vorplatz einer Kirche durchgeführt hatten, zu attackieren. Mit ihrer spontanen Demonstration wollten die Roma, die unter »Wir sind hier zu Hause«-Rufen durch die Straßen der osttschechischen Stadt zogen, ein konkretes Zeichen gegen Rassismus und Antiziganismus setzen.

In den vergangenen Wochen und Monaten hatten tschechische Neofaschisten mehrfach versucht, Roma anzugreifen. Erst Ende September hatte sich ein rassistischer Mob von etwa 500 bis 700 Rechten in Prag versammelt, um ein Wohnheim der Minderheit zu überfallen. Nur mit Mühe und durch den Einsatz von Tränengas war es der anwesenden Polizei gelungen, die Gewalttäter zurückzudrängen.

Insgesamt leben in Tschechien zwischen 250000 und 300000 Roma, die wie in vielen anderen osteuropäischen Ländern auch von wachsender Armut betroffen sind und immer häufiger zum Ziel von Haßkampagnen gemacht werden.

Quelle: Junge Welt
Stand: 30.10.2013

Analyse und Kritik des Antiziganismus, Antiziganistische Klischees, Fundstücke, Posts in English, Tschechien

Romea.cz reports Facebook group „Gypsies to the Gas Chambers“, Facebook sees no problem

The Czech administrators of the Facebook social networking site must really like racism. How else can their refusal to close a group named „Gypsies to the Gas Chambers“ („Cíkáni do plynu“) be explained? News server EuroZprávy.cz was the first to report on the issue. Another Facebook group making fun of racism was promptly taken down by the Czech administrators after complaints. The full name of the group is „Gypsies to the Gas Chambers! Fags!“ („Cikáni do plynu !buzeranti!“). It is set up as a „closed“ group with only six members. EuroZprávy.cz reports that some of the members are publishing openly racist commentaries. User „Wilson Gabriela“ is one of them.

Her own Facebook page includes the following commentary (our translation): „I don’t tar you all with the same brush I don’t mind gypsies but their behavior that’s why I don’t tar them all with the same brush but I would throw them all into one giant gas chamber, I know that what I am writing here is what everyone thinks but no one says out loud…“ When the page was reported by other users for its hate speech and symbols, administrators refused to remove it. According to the administrators, the material does not violate Facebook’s rules. News server Romea.cz also reported the page as hateful and received the following response: „You have reported the page „Cikáni do plynu !buzeranti!“ for containing hate speech or symbols. The group has not been removed.“

Facebook has, on the other hand, repeatedly removed the pages of the satirical group „Stop Czechs“ („Stop Čechům“). That group attempted to use humor to point out the dangers of racism and xenophobia by showing Czechs what it would be like to be a minority, but the administrators believe that page is an example of racism and xenophobia.

Source: Romea.cz
Date: 07.10.2013

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

Czech political parties agree pig farm on Roma Holocaust site should be removed

The topic of journalist Martin Veselovský’s fourth election special for Czech Radio on news server Rozhlas.cz was racism and relations toward minorities in the Czech Republic. Among the topics that were discussed was the possible removal of the pig farm located on the site of the former concentration camp for Romani people at Lety by Písek.

The candidates participating in the discussion were Martin Komárek of ANO 2011, Jan Bartošek of the Christian Democrats (KDU-ČSL), Soňa Marková of the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM), Helena Langšádlová of TOP 09, Jaroslav Foldyna of the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD), Yvona Legierská of the Citizen’s Rights Party for Zeman (SPOZ) and Drahomíra Miklošová of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS). During the debate the invited representatives of these political movements and parties managed to reach an unusual level of agreement on more than one point.

When asked whether they would ultimately support the purchase and removal of the pig farm at Lety by Písek and the construction of a memorial to the Roma Holocaust there using government money should they be elected to the lower house, all of those participating in the debate said they would. They also all agreed that such a decision would have to be taken on the basis of expert evaluations and negotiations with the owners of the pig farm to determine a reasonable purchase price.

„Yes… if the purchase price would be humane and not usurious, and if private organizations would also participate in building the memorial. I think we could raise money from private sponsors,“ said Komárek (ANO 2011).

Jan Bartošek (KDU-ČSL) also mentioned the essential historical context regarding the operation of the concentration camp for Romani people at Lety. „One thing is significant, namely, that the concentration camp at Lety was not run by the Germans, but by the Czechs. That means our nation bears a share of responsibility for what went on there,“ Bartošek emphasized.

„What we are fighting today is the result of that tragic history,“ responded Langšádlová (TOP 09).

The candidates also agreed, for example, that the problem in Czech society is less of a racial one than a social one and should be addressed as such. They also said they would adopt ceilings for the amount of state housing benefits provided to the indigent.

ODS would set the ceiling at CZK 1 000 per bed per month in the residential hotels. Communist Soňa Marková said it would not work to address the issue so strictly. „Here the point is that this shouldn’t become a business, but that people should be provided social housing so they do not have to live in ghettos and residential hotels,“ Marková (KSČM) said. Yvona Legierská (SPOZ) pointed out that the Czech Republic already has a social housing concept. „Look at the Concept for Roma Integration 2010 – 2013, approved by the previous government. If we were to properly implement it, we would only have half of these problems today,“ Legierská said.

Martin Komárek (ANO 2011) believes the newly elected lower house will have to resolve social housing. „The parties here have approved a law that makes it possible to traffic in poverty and for crooks to rob the state. That’s the law that makes it possible to charge CZK 10 000 per month per bed in a residential hotel. That law is evidently bad, it’s contemptible, and we must, during the first session of the new lower house, combine our forces to propose a law that will make this impossible,“ Komárek emphasized.

The candidates most agreed with one another on the topic of stopping loan-sharking, which was raised by Bartošek (KDU-ČSL). „We want to set a ceiling on the cost of the annual percentage rate (APR) of 20 per cent, including all fees. That means any contracts that are concluded beyond that framework would be considered invalid and not reclaimable. We view loan-sharking as tax evasion, which means that those who operate such businesses would be criminally prosecuted,“ Bartošek said.

Tightening up loan conditions would even be supported by Miklošová (ODS). „I believe it would definitely be appropriate for the possible interest rate to have a ceiling, because even though I cannot remember what it was like during the First Republic, I am informed that there was such a ceiling back then and that everything above it was considered a felony,“ she said.

TOP 09 has a solution as well. Langšádlová (TOP 09) said there is a need to augment the criminal code, which does define loan-sharking, but no one has ever been convicted of it, according to her. „What I would like to expand is the felony crime of usury by corporations, because very often this usury is committed by legal entities,“ Langšádlová pointed out. Foldyna (ČSSD) would focus not only on interest rates or the APR, but also on other aspects of loan contracts. He praised the fact that all of the candidates agreed on this point. „We would have to define this further during a second reading [of a bill], but we can see here that loan-sharking is a big problem now and we must deal with it,“ Foldyna.

Source: Romea.cz
Date: 05.10.2013

Antiziganismus auf politischer Ebene, Antiziganismus von Rechts, Fundstücke, Posts in English, Tschechien

Czech Republic: Three simultaneous neo-Nazi demonstrations in Krupka, Prague and Vítkov

Approximately 100 right-wing extremists participated in a demonstration on St. Wenceslas Day that was convened by neo-Nazis in Prague. Small groups of ultra-right radicals gathered in the lower section of Wenceslas Square before marching to the Edvard Beneš embankment of the Vltava river.

In the town of Krupka, approximately 350 Romani people and their supporters took to streets to counter-protest, and as of 18:15 CET the neo-Nazis were no longer anywhere to be seen. In Vítkov, the leader of the right-wing extremist Workers‘ Social Justice Party (Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti – DSSS) Tomáš Vandas made his speeches to an empty square.

Approximately 350 opponents of the neo-Nazis gathered in Krupka shortly after 14:30 today. A large number of them were local Roma.

Anti-fascists from Germany had also traveled to Krupka to support the Romani community. The first conflict took place when neo-Nazis began distributing fliers for the right-wing extremist DSSS to the Roma in an effort to provoke them.

„About 70 anti-fascists from Germany responded to the provocation and police were barely able to prevent a physical clash. DSSS newspapers and posters ended up shredded on the ground. The neo-Nazis also lost their DSSS flag,“ a correspondent with news server Romea.cz reported from the scene just before 15:00 CET.

Neo-Nazis from the „Czech Lions“ (České lvi) group had announced the assembly for 14:00, but none turned out a that time. News server Romea.cz learned that the gathering had been postponed until 17:00, at which time not more than 5 people attended.

„We saw approximately 5 neo-Nazis on Mariánské Square,“ our correspondent on the scene in Krupka reported shortly after 17:00, adding that local Romani residents had already dispersed and gone home. „The situation here is completely calm.“ Continue reading Czech Republic: Three simultaneous neo-Nazi demonstrations in Krupka, Prague and Vítkov →

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