European MPs criticise France's expulsions of Roma, as French ministers travel to Bucharest for talks with Romania.
France has been heavily criticised for forcing Roma community members to leave the country to Romania [Al Jazeera]
The European Parliament has passed a strongly worded resolution criticising France's controversial policy of forcing members of its Roma community to leave the country.
The non-binding resolution expressed "deep concern at the measure taken by France and other member states targeting Roma and Travellers," and urged the French government to "immediately suspend all expulsions of Roma".
But France reacted angrily to resolution, with Eric Besson, the immigration minister, who is in Bucharest for talks with Romanian authorities on the issue, describing it as a "political diktat" and refusing to comply with its demands.
"The European parliament has exceeded its prerogatives," Besson said, adding that it was "out of the question" for France to cease its Roma expulsions.
The issue has proven a major test for the European Union, which is based on the principle that Europeans can live and work in any member state they please.
France argues that the Roma are abusing this principle to immigrate and commit crimes, and has called on Romania to do more to integrate the Roma citizens that it deports.
"The truth is the Roma are not integrated in Romania," Pierre Lellouche, France's European Affairs minister said earlier on Thursday.
"France will call for commitments on police and judiciary cooperation, the fight against human trafficking and integration of Roma in Romania, as part of a national emergency plan spanning 2010-2013," Lellouche said before a meeting with Emil Boc, the Romanian Prime Minister.
But Romanian leaders are angry with the way France has handled the affair. Traian Basescu, the Romanian president has warned that the French minister's visit to his country will be useless if they have come to "lecture" Romania.
And the country's foreign minister, Teodor Baconschi, attacked France's expulsion policy in an opinion piece in Thursday's edition of the daily newspaper Evenimentul Zilei.
"Neither a security crackdown nor a paternalist form of welfare are the answer to Roma problems", he wrote."Only a European strategy will allow for a lasting response to the problems and legitimate expectations of this vast community."
France is seeking to deflect criticism for the expulsions by freeing up funding to help reintegrate the deported Roma when they arrive in their home country.
"We have a road map on Roma inclusion, we have made several proposals, but things are not progressing," Lellouche said.
Banconschi stressed Romania had already adopted a national plan for Roma integration and spent nearly 50 million euros since the beginning of the year on programmes meant to improve conditions for the community.
France has deported almost 8,000 Roma migrants to Bulgaria and Romania this year, drawing criticism of human rights groups, the Catholic church and domestic politicians.
Sarkozy's political opponents have denounced the crackdown as an effort to boost his crumbling popularity and deflect attention away from unpopular spending cuts.
Sarkozy and his ministers have defended their policy in the context of a crackdown on foreign-born criminals. But Bucharest has said that none of the Roma expelled had a criminal record.
In more international criticism of French policy, Thomas Hammarberg, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, compared France's rhetoric on the issue to that used by Nazi and fascist regimes.
While the remarks brought an angry reaction from France, Hammarberg stood by them on Thursday, insisting that he had not singled out the French government for criticism.
*Source: Aljazeera
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Hiatus
Hello, few readers,
I was on hiatus. I don't know. Blogging is strange. I guess I'm still not used to it! Although there have been a lot of things to blog about, especially Roma Rights issues and publications.
Actually, there is so much that this is really just a post to say that I'm still here.
I will mention right now though that I have a poem, "Hyssop in the Forest" coming out in the Los Angeles Review in October.
Also, the new issue of Moloch is out here so check me out! My poems "Heathcliffe" and "The Empty Fishpond of Baileard" appear. There are a lot of really WONDERFUL writers in there, some of which I had the pleasure to hear read at the Moloch launch at the Writer's Museum in Dublin on July 30th. I read too (first! ahhh!) and it was so much fun. What a great crowd; what a great city.
Er... also I deferred St Andrews. I think I may to returning to the States for a spell... if all goes well with immigration.
I was on hiatus. I don't know. Blogging is strange. I guess I'm still not used to it! Although there have been a lot of things to blog about, especially Roma Rights issues and publications.
Actually, there is so much that this is really just a post to say that I'm still here.
I will mention right now though that I have a poem, "Hyssop in the Forest" coming out in the Los Angeles Review in October.
Also, the new issue of Moloch is out here so check me out! My poems "Heathcliffe" and "The Empty Fishpond of Baileard" appear. There are a lot of really WONDERFUL writers in there, some of which I had the pleasure to hear read at the Moloch launch at the Writer's Museum in Dublin on July 30th. I read too (first! ahhh!) and it was so much fun. What a great crowd; what a great city.
Er... also I deferred St Andrews. I think I may to returning to the States for a spell... if all goes well with immigration.
Friday, April 30, 2010
New Poems in Arsenic Lobster
3 of my poems are in the new issue of Arsenic Lobster. Check it out here: http://arseniclobster.magere.com
Yay!
Yay!
Saturday, April 10, 2010
This is a formal request
One generous benefactor required to financially support a studious poet and her musically inclined husband in all their endeavours: international, whimsical, scholarly, and otherwise.
It's amazing how I'm utterly unable to find funding for school despite all my best efforts. It's amazing how these past few years have been meandering and fraught with failures.
So, one generous benefactor, please.
It's amazing how I'm utterly unable to find funding for school despite all my best efforts. It's amazing how these past few years have been meandering and fraught with failures.
So, one generous benefactor, please.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Molotov attack on Romani family in Czech Republic
I found this article here: http://www.romea.cz/english/index.php?id=detail&detail=2007_1552
I'm posting the whole thing instead of merely excerpts because I think the amount of information and detail is crucial-- unfortunately these attacks don't normally get so much coverage, even though they deserve it. Please take a moment to read the article below.
A Molotov cocktail was thrown into the home of a Romani family in the Bedřiška settlement in the city of Ostrava during the early hours of Sunday morning. No one was injured. Speaking at a press conference today, Tomáš Landsfeld, director of the Ostrava Police, said that so far there is no reason to believe extremists were behind the attack. The case is being investigated by a special 15-member team as one of reckless endangerment. An unidentified perpetrator threw the Molotov cocktail through the window of a bedroom in which a 14-year-old girl was sleeping.
"Unacceptable, shocking, insane – such events have no place in a normal society. I firmly believe this case will be successfully investigated,” commented Czech PM Jan Fischer.
"We are afraid. Mainly we fear for our children. We will be patrolling," Jiří Koller, whose house is immediately adjacent to the scene of the attack, told the Czech Press Agency.
The victimized family said a white car with tinted windows drove by just before the attack. "I heard that, but I don’t know anything more. They say it was impossible to see into the car," Koller said. Police have also begun investigating this information.
"An as-yet unidentified perpetrator threw it through the window pane - it did not explode,” said Radovan Vojta, chief detective in Ostrava. Since the bottle did not break on impact, the burning fluid did not spill or flare up. The wick was the only part on fire. "The occupants were lucky. Had the bottle broken, a fire would have started. The house would have caught fire very quickly and the blaze could have reached the neighboring family. As many as eight people were endangered,” Vojta said.
Ludmila Podraná, whose home it was, is also afraid. "Our 14-year-old daughter saved our lives. If she had not put it out in time, we would all have gone up in flames,” she told the Czech Press Agency with tears in her eyes, adding that she had immediately thought of the fate of little Natálka from Vítkov. Ludmila’s husband Dušan said they heard nothing during the attack. "Our daughter woke us up afterward. The bottle flew through the window over her bed. Shards of glass rained down on her. The bottle hit a table and then the floor, where the carpet started to burn. She threw a blanket down on it and put out the fire. Then we called the police,” he said.
Detectives are now waiting for the results of the expert examination; while they already have some initial results, they will have not definitive results until the end of the week. "What we can say is that this was a highly flammable chemical, a first-class combustible. For tactical reasons we do not want give more specifics,” Vojta said, adding that for the time being, according to the available information, there is no evidence that this was a racially motivated attack by right-wing extremists. "Nothing links this case to Vítkov - maybe just the fact that a Molotov cocktail was used. However, those have been used in other cases,” the police officer said.
"I must admit that despite all my experience with racially motivated attacks during the past 10 years, I am once again completely aghast both at the news of another arson attack in Ostrava-Bedřiška and even more aghast at the news that once again, a case of this sort has not been taken up by the homicide division at regional police level, but is being initially investigated by local, district-level detectives,” Markus Pape told news server Romea.cz.
Pape believes this approach unfortunately means the Czech Interior Ministry and Czech Police Presidium have still not yet learned anything from the Vítkov case and are continuing to minimize similar cases, which will only lead to other, similar crimes. "The main thing missing is a simple order by the police president that every arson attack on a residence should be immediately classified as attempted murder. That would make it possible to employ the necessary top-level staff, technicians and methods to successfully hunt down the perpetrators. It is simply unacceptable that someone has to suffer burn injuries before the police adequately respond,” Pape said.
Pape believes that unless such an order is issued, such crimes will have more and more tragic results and certain people will have even more of a feeling that there is no place for them in the state. "This republic is slowly but surely gaining a reputation abroad as Molotov cocktail country,” Pape told Romea.cz.
Other residents of the Bedřiška settlement, which is not solely Roma-occupied, were also frightened by the attack. "We are concerned, mainly for our children. We are going to stand watch here ourselves. We will take turns being on the telephone. If something happens, we will call the police,” resident Koller told the Czech Press Agency. However, police want to dissuade the Roma from forming their own militia. "That is not necessary. We have no information that another attack might occur. We have increased our patrol services in the locality,” police director Landsfeld said. He said police have also contacted social workers and activists from non-profit organizations who should be active on the scene in order to dissuade people from establishing a militia.
Kumar Vishwanathan, chair of the Life Together civic association, who has devoted himself to working with the Roma minority for many years, intends to participate in that effort. "There is no reason to take any desperate steps like starting militias, etc. We want to calm the situation so the police can do their work, because they proved themselves capable of it in the Vítkov case, thanks to which they also have the very strong trust of the people,” Vishwanathan said.
The Bedřiška settlement, the site of several wooden single-family homes, became the topic of intensive discussion five years ago. Then-Mayor Liana Janáčková and Vice-Mayor Jiří Jezerský made controversial statements about the Romani inhabitants of Bedřiška. "Give me a gun license and permission to shoot and I’ll go do it,” Jizerský said. Janáčková identified herself as a racist and spoke of “Gypsies breeding” and the use of dynamite or a high electric fence.
The comments were captured on a recording made during a meeting of the neighborhood housing department at which long-term residents of the settlement complained about the behavior of the Roma. Jezerský was even brought before the Ostrava District Court in connection with his remarks. The court acquitted him, saying he allegedly had not committed a crime. Janáčková was never prosecuted because the Czech Senate refused to strip her of immunity.
According to the Czech Labor Ministry, there are 10 similar ghettos in Ostrava predominantly occupied by Roma. As many as 6 600 people may be living in these areas. Most of the Roma were intentionally relocated to these areas in recent years. The majority of the adults in these areas are out of work; in some places, unemployment is 100 %. These families are dependent on welfare benefits. Usually residents of these areas have achieved only an elementary school education at the most. Loan-sharking thrives in many of the Ostrava localities, as do drug dealing, drug dependency, and shoplifting.
Last April arsonists attacked the home of a Romani family in Vítkov. Investigators found three Molotov cocktails had been thrown into the home. Three people were injured in the subsequent blaze. The most seriously injured was little Natálka, who was not yet two years old. She suffered extensive second and third-degree burns over 80 % of her body.
The trial of the four right-wing extremists from the Bruntál and Opava districts accused of the Vítkov arson will begin at the Regional Court in Ostrava on 11 May. The main hearing will involve extraordinary security measures. The men are accused of racially motivated attempted murder against more than one victim, including one child. They face up to 15 years in prison, but exceptional sentencing, including life sentencing, is also a possibility.
Selected cases of arson attacks on Romani family residences
11 July 1994 – In the Zelené údolí neighborhood of Jablonec nad Nisou, a small group of skinheads threw Molotov cocktails into an apartment occupied by a Romani family. A 12-year-old girl and her mother suffered severe burns during the attack. The others present escaped without injury.
4 February 1996 – In Krnov (Bruntál district) four youths, evidently skinheads, threw Molotov cocktails through the windows of two ground-floor apartments. One of the dwellings caught fire; it was not put out until firefighters responded. A second attack took place there on 16 February, when a different group of two new attackers attempted to set another house on fire. Six youths were charged with these racially motivated arsons (police investigated them as individuals). In 2002, the court gave four of the men suspended sentences; a fifth man, the oldest of them, was sentenced to three years in prison.
17 January 1998 – A group of assailants threw a Molotov cocktail into the ground-floor apartment of a five-member Romani family in Krnov (Bruntál district) in the early morning hours of 17 January. A 48-year-old woman suffered severe second and third-degree burns and a man suffered light injuries. The fire destroyed all of the fixtures in the apartment. One hour after this attack, an unidentified assailant set a personal vehicle owned by a Romani man on fire elsewhere in Krnov. Police charged three local youths with the first attack. In February 2002 the District Court in Krnov sentenced Radek Bedrim, a member of several neo-Nazi groups, to two years in prison without parole. The court acquitted his two accomplices for lack of evidence.
28 February 1998 – Another nighttime attack in Krnov; hooligans threw another Molotov cocktail through the window of a ground-floor apartment occupied by Roma. No one was injured.
19 October 1998 – At 2 AM, an unidentified perpetrator threw a Molotov cocktail into the flat of a four-member Romani family on Foerstrova street in the Mariánské Hory neighborhood of Ostrava. Residents managed to put out the fire and there were no injuries.
12 June 1999 – An unidentified arsonist set fire to a Roma dwelling in Plavy (Jablonec district) by throwing two Molotov cocktails through a closed window. A 22-year-old woman was sleeping in the room with her two-month-old son and two other children aged two and three when the curtains and valance caught fire.
14 July 2000 – A Romani family in Rokycany reported two skinheads attacked their single-family home with a Molotov cocktail in the evening. The bottle filled with gasoline hit the window frame and landed outside the house. No damage was caused to the targeted room in which three children were sleeping.
24 July 2002 – Unidentified arsonists threw two Molotov cocktails into a Roma-occupied home in the Hranice neighborhood of Karviná at around 23:00. One hit the front wall of the house and the parapet of the kitchen window while the second flew through an open window. Residents put out the fire. No one was injured.
30 June 2007 – Unidentified arsonists threw a Molotov cocktail into the home of a Romani family in Vrbno pod Pradědem at around 23:00. Five people were in the house, two adults and three children. No one was injured.
21 September 2008 – Kitchen fixtures were set on fire after someone threw a Molotov cocktail into the ground-floor apartment of a Romani family in Bruntál. Five people were sleeping there at the time, no one was injured.
19. April 2009 – Arsonists attacked the single-family home of a Romani family in Vítkov (Opava district). Police say three Molotov cocktails were thrown into the house. Three people were injured during the subsequent blaze. The most serious injuries were suffered by a girl who was not quite two years old and sustained second and third-degree burns over 80 % of her body. Four right-wing extremists from Bruntál and Opava districts have been charged with racially motivated attempted murder. Their trial is to begin in May.
24 May 2009 - In Zdiby u Prahy, arsonists attacked a Romani family, throwing two Molotov cocktails into their home. Nothing happened to the family members, who succeeded in putting the fire out in time.
24 September 2009 – The Prima television station reported that attackers threw a Molotov cocktail at a Roma-occupied home in Mikulov, South Moravia. No one was injured. The time of the attack was not reported.
15 March 2010 – In the early morning hours of 14 March, someone threw a Molotov cocktail into the home of a Romani family in the Bedřiška settlement in Ostrava. Residents succeeded in putting out the fire and no one was injured. A special police team is investigating the case as one of reckless endangerment.
ryz, Czech Press Agency, translated by Gwendolyn Albert
ROMEA
A Molotov cocktail was thrown into the home of a Romani family in the Bedřiška settlement in the city of Ostrava during the early hours of Sunday morning. No one was injured. Speaking at a press conference today, Tomáš Landsfeld, director of the Ostrava Police, said that so far there is no reason to believe extremists were behind the attack. The case is being investigated by a special 15-member team as one of reckless endangerment. An unidentified perpetrator threw the Molotov cocktail through the window of a bedroom in which a 14-year-old girl was sleeping.
"Unacceptable, shocking, insane – such events have no place in a normal society. I firmly believe this case will be successfully investigated,” commented Czech PM Jan Fischer.
"We are afraid. Mainly we fear for our children. We will be patrolling," Jiří Koller, whose house is immediately adjacent to the scene of the attack, told the Czech Press Agency.
The victimized family said a white car with tinted windows drove by just before the attack. "I heard that, but I don’t know anything more. They say it was impossible to see into the car," Koller said. Police have also begun investigating this information.
"An as-yet unidentified perpetrator threw it through the window pane - it did not explode,” said Radovan Vojta, chief detective in Ostrava. Since the bottle did not break on impact, the burning fluid did not spill or flare up. The wick was the only part on fire. "The occupants were lucky. Had the bottle broken, a fire would have started. The house would have caught fire very quickly and the blaze could have reached the neighboring family. As many as eight people were endangered,” Vojta said.
Ludmila Podraná, whose home it was, is also afraid. "Our 14-year-old daughter saved our lives. If she had not put it out in time, we would all have gone up in flames,” she told the Czech Press Agency with tears in her eyes, adding that she had immediately thought of the fate of little Natálka from Vítkov. Ludmila’s husband Dušan said they heard nothing during the attack. "Our daughter woke us up afterward. The bottle flew through the window over her bed. Shards of glass rained down on her. The bottle hit a table and then the floor, where the carpet started to burn. She threw a blanket down on it and put out the fire. Then we called the police,” he said.
Detectives are now waiting for the results of the expert examination; while they already have some initial results, they will have not definitive results until the end of the week. "What we can say is that this was a highly flammable chemical, a first-class combustible. For tactical reasons we do not want give more specifics,” Vojta said, adding that for the time being, according to the available information, there is no evidence that this was a racially motivated attack by right-wing extremists. "Nothing links this case to Vítkov - maybe just the fact that a Molotov cocktail was used. However, those have been used in other cases,” the police officer said.
"I must admit that despite all my experience with racially motivated attacks during the past 10 years, I am once again completely aghast both at the news of another arson attack in Ostrava-Bedřiška and even more aghast at the news that once again, a case of this sort has not been taken up by the homicide division at regional police level, but is being initially investigated by local, district-level detectives,” Markus Pape told news server Romea.cz.
Pape believes this approach unfortunately means the Czech Interior Ministry and Czech Police Presidium have still not yet learned anything from the Vítkov case and are continuing to minimize similar cases, which will only lead to other, similar crimes. "The main thing missing is a simple order by the police president that every arson attack on a residence should be immediately classified as attempted murder. That would make it possible to employ the necessary top-level staff, technicians and methods to successfully hunt down the perpetrators. It is simply unacceptable that someone has to suffer burn injuries before the police adequately respond,” Pape said.
Pape believes that unless such an order is issued, such crimes will have more and more tragic results and certain people will have even more of a feeling that there is no place for them in the state. "This republic is slowly but surely gaining a reputation abroad as Molotov cocktail country,” Pape told Romea.cz.
Other residents of the Bedřiška settlement, which is not solely Roma-occupied, were also frightened by the attack. "We are concerned, mainly for our children. We are going to stand watch here ourselves. We will take turns being on the telephone. If something happens, we will call the police,” resident Koller told the Czech Press Agency. However, police want to dissuade the Roma from forming their own militia. "That is not necessary. We have no information that another attack might occur. We have increased our patrol services in the locality,” police director Landsfeld said. He said police have also contacted social workers and activists from non-profit organizations who should be active on the scene in order to dissuade people from establishing a militia.
Kumar Vishwanathan, chair of the Life Together civic association, who has devoted himself to working with the Roma minority for many years, intends to participate in that effort. "There is no reason to take any desperate steps like starting militias, etc. We want to calm the situation so the police can do their work, because they proved themselves capable of it in the Vítkov case, thanks to which they also have the very strong trust of the people,” Vishwanathan said.
The Bedřiška settlement, the site of several wooden single-family homes, became the topic of intensive discussion five years ago. Then-Mayor Liana Janáčková and Vice-Mayor Jiří Jezerský made controversial statements about the Romani inhabitants of Bedřiška. "Give me a gun license and permission to shoot and I’ll go do it,” Jizerský said. Janáčková identified herself as a racist and spoke of “Gypsies breeding” and the use of dynamite or a high electric fence.
The comments were captured on a recording made during a meeting of the neighborhood housing department at which long-term residents of the settlement complained about the behavior of the Roma. Jezerský was even brought before the Ostrava District Court in connection with his remarks. The court acquitted him, saying he allegedly had not committed a crime. Janáčková was never prosecuted because the Czech Senate refused to strip her of immunity.
According to the Czech Labor Ministry, there are 10 similar ghettos in Ostrava predominantly occupied by Roma. As many as 6 600 people may be living in these areas. Most of the Roma were intentionally relocated to these areas in recent years. The majority of the adults in these areas are out of work; in some places, unemployment is 100 %. These families are dependent on welfare benefits. Usually residents of these areas have achieved only an elementary school education at the most. Loan-sharking thrives in many of the Ostrava localities, as do drug dealing, drug dependency, and shoplifting.
Last April arsonists attacked the home of a Romani family in Vítkov. Investigators found three Molotov cocktails had been thrown into the home. Three people were injured in the subsequent blaze. The most seriously injured was little Natálka, who was not yet two years old. She suffered extensive second and third-degree burns over 80 % of her body.
The trial of the four right-wing extremists from the Bruntál and Opava districts accused of the Vítkov arson will begin at the Regional Court in Ostrava on 11 May. The main hearing will involve extraordinary security measures. The men are accused of racially motivated attempted murder against more than one victim, including one child. They face up to 15 years in prison, but exceptional sentencing, including life sentencing, is also a possibility.
Selected cases of arson attacks on Romani family residences
11 July 1994 – In the Zelené údolí neighborhood of Jablonec nad Nisou, a small group of skinheads threw Molotov cocktails into an apartment occupied by a Romani family. A 12-year-old girl and her mother suffered severe burns during the attack. The others present escaped without injury.
4 February 1996 – In Krnov (Bruntál district) four youths, evidently skinheads, threw Molotov cocktails through the windows of two ground-floor apartments. One of the dwellings caught fire; it was not put out until firefighters responded. A second attack took place there on 16 February, when a different group of two new attackers attempted to set another house on fire. Six youths were charged with these racially motivated arsons (police investigated them as individuals). In 2002, the court gave four of the men suspended sentences; a fifth man, the oldest of them, was sentenced to three years in prison.
17 January 1998 – A group of assailants threw a Molotov cocktail into the ground-floor apartment of a five-member Romani family in Krnov (Bruntál district) in the early morning hours of 17 January. A 48-year-old woman suffered severe second and third-degree burns and a man suffered light injuries. The fire destroyed all of the fixtures in the apartment. One hour after this attack, an unidentified assailant set a personal vehicle owned by a Romani man on fire elsewhere in Krnov. Police charged three local youths with the first attack. In February 2002 the District Court in Krnov sentenced Radek Bedrim, a member of several neo-Nazi groups, to two years in prison without parole. The court acquitted his two accomplices for lack of evidence.
28 February 1998 – Another nighttime attack in Krnov; hooligans threw another Molotov cocktail through the window of a ground-floor apartment occupied by Roma. No one was injured.
19 October 1998 – At 2 AM, an unidentified perpetrator threw a Molotov cocktail into the flat of a four-member Romani family on Foerstrova street in the Mariánské Hory neighborhood of Ostrava. Residents managed to put out the fire and there were no injuries.
12 June 1999 – An unidentified arsonist set fire to a Roma dwelling in Plavy (Jablonec district) by throwing two Molotov cocktails through a closed window. A 22-year-old woman was sleeping in the room with her two-month-old son and two other children aged two and three when the curtains and valance caught fire.
14 July 2000 – A Romani family in Rokycany reported two skinheads attacked their single-family home with a Molotov cocktail in the evening. The bottle filled with gasoline hit the window frame and landed outside the house. No damage was caused to the targeted room in which three children were sleeping.
24 July 2002 – Unidentified arsonists threw two Molotov cocktails into a Roma-occupied home in the Hranice neighborhood of Karviná at around 23:00. One hit the front wall of the house and the parapet of the kitchen window while the second flew through an open window. Residents put out the fire. No one was injured.
30 June 2007 – Unidentified arsonists threw a Molotov cocktail into the home of a Romani family in Vrbno pod Pradědem at around 23:00. Five people were in the house, two adults and three children. No one was injured.
21 September 2008 – Kitchen fixtures were set on fire after someone threw a Molotov cocktail into the ground-floor apartment of a Romani family in Bruntál. Five people were sleeping there at the time, no one was injured.
19. April 2009 – Arsonists attacked the single-family home of a Romani family in Vítkov (Opava district). Police say three Molotov cocktails were thrown into the house. Three people were injured during the subsequent blaze. The most serious injuries were suffered by a girl who was not quite two years old and sustained second and third-degree burns over 80 % of her body. Four right-wing extremists from Bruntál and Opava districts have been charged with racially motivated attempted murder. Their trial is to begin in May.
24 May 2009 - In Zdiby u Prahy, arsonists attacked a Romani family, throwing two Molotov cocktails into their home. Nothing happened to the family members, who succeeded in putting the fire out in time.
24 September 2009 – The Prima television station reported that attackers threw a Molotov cocktail at a Roma-occupied home in Mikulov, South Moravia. No one was injured. The time of the attack was not reported.
15 March 2010 – In the early morning hours of 14 March, someone threw a Molotov cocktail into the home of a Romani family in the Bedřiška settlement in Ostrava. Residents succeeded in putting out the fire and no one was injured. A special police team is investigating the case as one of reckless endangerment.
ryz, Czech Press Agency, translated by Gwendolyn Albert
ROMEA
A Molotov cocktail was thrown into the home of a Romani family in the Bedřiška settlement in the city of Ostrava during the early hours of Sunday morning. No one was injured. Speaking at a press conference today, Tomáš Landsfeld, director of the Ostrava Police, said that so far there is no reason to believe extremists were behind the attack. The case is being investigated by a special 15-member team as one of reckless endangerment. An unidentified perpetrator threw the Molotov cocktail through the window of a bedroom in which a 14-year-old girl was sleeping.
"Unacceptable, shocking, insane – such events have no place in a normal society. I firmly believe this case will be successfully investigated,” commented Czech PM Jan Fischer.
"We are afraid. Mainly we fear for our children. We will be patrolling," Jiří Koller, whose house is immediately adjacent to the scene of the attack, told the Czech Press Agency.
The victimized family said a white car with tinted windows drove by just before the attack. "I heard that, but I don’t know anything more. They say it was impossible to see into the car," Koller said. Police have also begun investigating this information.
"An as-yet unidentified perpetrator threw it through the window pane - it did not explode,” said Radovan Vojta, chief detective in Ostrava. Since the bottle did not break on impact, the burning fluid did not spill or flare up. The wick was the only part on fire. "The occupants were lucky. Had the bottle broken, a fire would have started. The house would have caught fire very quickly and the blaze could have reached the neighboring family. As many as eight people were endangered,” Vojta said.
Ludmila Podraná, whose home it was, is also afraid. "Our 14-year-old daughter saved our lives. If she had not put it out in time, we would all have gone up in flames,” she told the Czech Press Agency with tears in her eyes, adding that she had immediately thought of the fate of little Natálka from Vítkov. Ludmila’s husband Dušan said they heard nothing during the attack. "Our daughter woke us up afterward. The bottle flew through the window over her bed. Shards of glass rained down on her. The bottle hit a table and then the floor, where the carpet started to burn. She threw a blanket down on it and put out the fire. Then we called the police,” he said.
Detectives are now waiting for the results of the expert examination; while they already have some initial results, they will have not definitive results until the end of the week. "What we can say is that this was a highly flammable chemical, a first-class combustible. For tactical reasons we do not want give more specifics,” Vojta said, adding that for the time being, according to the available information, there is no evidence that this was a racially motivated attack by right-wing extremists. "Nothing links this case to Vítkov - maybe just the fact that a Molotov cocktail was used. However, those have been used in other cases,” the police officer said.
"I must admit that despite all my experience with racially motivated attacks during the past 10 years, I am once again completely aghast both at the news of another arson attack in Ostrava-Bedřiška and even more aghast at the news that once again, a case of this sort has not been taken up by the homicide division at regional police level, but is being initially investigated by local, district-level detectives,” Markus Pape told news server Romea.cz.
Pape believes this approach unfortunately means the Czech Interior Ministry and Czech Police Presidium have still not yet learned anything from the Vítkov case and are continuing to minimize similar cases, which will only lead to other, similar crimes. "The main thing missing is a simple order by the police president that every arson attack on a residence should be immediately classified as attempted murder. That would make it possible to employ the necessary top-level staff, technicians and methods to successfully hunt down the perpetrators. It is simply unacceptable that someone has to suffer burn injuries before the police adequately respond,” Pape said.
Pape believes that unless such an order is issued, such crimes will have more and more tragic results and certain people will have even more of a feeling that there is no place for them in the state. "This republic is slowly but surely gaining a reputation abroad as Molotov cocktail country,” Pape told Romea.cz.
Other residents of the Bedřiška settlement, which is not solely Roma-occupied, were also frightened by the attack. "We are concerned, mainly for our children. We are going to stand watch here ourselves. We will take turns being on the telephone. If something happens, we will call the police,” resident Koller told the Czech Press Agency. However, police want to dissuade the Roma from forming their own militia. "That is not necessary. We have no information that another attack might occur. We have increased our patrol services in the locality,” police director Landsfeld said. He said police have also contacted social workers and activists from non-profit organizations who should be active on the scene in order to dissuade people from establishing a militia.
Kumar Vishwanathan, chair of the Life Together civic association, who has devoted himself to working with the Roma minority for many years, intends to participate in that effort. "There is no reason to take any desperate steps like starting militias, etc. We want to calm the situation so the police can do their work, because they proved themselves capable of it in the Vítkov case, thanks to which they also have the very strong trust of the people,” Vishwanathan said.
The Bedřiška settlement, the site of several wooden single-family homes, became the topic of intensive discussion five years ago. Then-Mayor Liana Janáčková and Vice-Mayor Jiří Jezerský made controversial statements about the Romani inhabitants of Bedřiška. "Give me a gun license and permission to shoot and I’ll go do it,” Jizerský said. Janáčková identified herself as a racist and spoke of “Gypsies breeding” and the use of dynamite or a high electric fence.
The comments were captured on a recording made during a meeting of the neighborhood housing department at which long-term residents of the settlement complained about the behavior of the Roma. Jezerský was even brought before the Ostrava District Court in connection with his remarks. The court acquitted him, saying he allegedly had not committed a crime. Janáčková was never prosecuted because the Czech Senate refused to strip her of immunity.
According to the Czech Labor Ministry, there are 10 similar ghettos in Ostrava predominantly occupied by Roma. As many as 6 600 people may be living in these areas. Most of the Roma were intentionally relocated to these areas in recent years. The majority of the adults in these areas are out of work; in some places, unemployment is 100 %. These families are dependent on welfare benefits. Usually residents of these areas have achieved only an elementary school education at the most. Loan-sharking thrives in many of the Ostrava localities, as do drug dealing, drug dependency, and shoplifting.
Last April arsonists attacked the home of a Romani family in Vítkov. Investigators found three Molotov cocktails had been thrown into the home. Three people were injured in the subsequent blaze. The most seriously injured was little Natálka, who was not yet two years old. She suffered extensive second and third-degree burns over 80 % of her body.
The trial of the four right-wing extremists from the Bruntál and Opava districts accused of the Vítkov arson will begin at the Regional Court in Ostrava on 11 May. The main hearing will involve extraordinary security measures. The men are accused of racially motivated attempted murder against more than one victim, including one child. They face up to 15 years in prison, but exceptional sentencing, including life sentencing, is also a possibility.
Selected cases of arson attacks on Romani family residences
11 July 1994 – In the Zelené údolí neighborhood of Jablonec nad Nisou, a small group of skinheads threw Molotov cocktails into an apartment occupied by a Romani family. A 12-year-old girl and her mother suffered severe burns during the attack. The others present escaped without injury.
4 February 1996 – In Krnov (Bruntál district) four youths, evidently skinheads, threw Molotov cocktails through the windows of two ground-floor apartments. One of the dwellings caught fire; it was not put out until firefighters responded. A second attack took place there on 16 February, when a different group of two new attackers attempted to set another house on fire. Six youths were charged with these racially motivated arsons (police investigated them as individuals). In 2002, the court gave four of the men suspended sentences; a fifth man, the oldest of them, was sentenced to three years in prison.
17 January 1998 – A group of assailants threw a Molotov cocktail into the ground-floor apartment of a five-member Romani family in Krnov (Bruntál district) in the early morning hours of 17 January. A 48-year-old woman suffered severe second and third-degree burns and a man suffered light injuries. The fire destroyed all of the fixtures in the apartment. One hour after this attack, an unidentified assailant set a personal vehicle owned by a Romani man on fire elsewhere in Krnov. Police charged three local youths with the first attack. In February 2002 the District Court in Krnov sentenced Radek Bedrim, a member of several neo-Nazi groups, to two years in prison without parole. The court acquitted his two accomplices for lack of evidence.
28 February 1998 – Another nighttime attack in Krnov; hooligans threw another Molotov cocktail through the window of a ground-floor apartment occupied by Roma. No one was injured.
19 October 1998 – At 2 AM, an unidentified perpetrator threw a Molotov cocktail into the flat of a four-member Romani family on Foerstrova street in the Mariánské Hory neighborhood of Ostrava. Residents managed to put out the fire and there were no injuries.
12 June 1999 – An unidentified arsonist set fire to a Roma dwelling in Plavy (Jablonec district) by throwing two Molotov cocktails through a closed window. A 22-year-old woman was sleeping in the room with her two-month-old son and two other children aged two and three when the curtains and valance caught fire.
14 July 2000 – A Romani family in Rokycany reported two skinheads attacked their single-family home with a Molotov cocktail in the evening. The bottle filled with gasoline hit the window frame and landed outside the house. No damage was caused to the targeted room in which three children were sleeping.
24 July 2002 – Unidentified arsonists threw two Molotov cocktails into a Roma-occupied home in the Hranice neighborhood of Karviná at around 23:00. One hit the front wall of the house and the parapet of the kitchen window while the second flew through an open window. Residents put out the fire. No one was injured.
30 June 2007 – Unidentified arsonists threw a Molotov cocktail into the home of a Romani family in Vrbno pod Pradědem at around 23:00. Five people were in the house, two adults and three children. No one was injured.
21 September 2008 – Kitchen fixtures were set on fire after someone threw a Molotov cocktail into the ground-floor apartment of a Romani family in Bruntál. Five people were sleeping there at the time, no one was injured.
19. April 2009 – Arsonists attacked the single-family home of a Romani family in Vítkov (Opava district). Police say three Molotov cocktails were thrown into the house. Three people were injured during the subsequent blaze. The most serious injuries were suffered by a girl who was not quite two years old and sustained second and third-degree burns over 80 % of her body. Four right-wing extremists from Bruntál and Opava districts have been charged with racially motivated attempted murder. Their trial is to begin in May.
24 May 2009 - In Zdiby u Prahy, arsonists attacked a Romani family, throwing two Molotov cocktails into their home. Nothing happened to the family members, who succeeded in putting the fire out in time.
24 September 2009 – The Prima television station reported that attackers threw a Molotov cocktail at a Roma-occupied home in Mikulov, South Moravia. No one was injured. The time of the attack was not reported.
15 March 2010 – In the early morning hours of 14 March, someone threw a Molotov cocktail into the home of a Romani family in the Bedřiška settlement in Ostrava. Residents succeeded in putting out the fire and no one was injured. A special police team is investigating the case as one of reckless endangerment.
ryz, Czech Press Agency, translated by Gwendolyn Albert
ROMEA
I'm posting the whole thing instead of merely excerpts because I think the amount of information and detail is crucial-- unfortunately these attacks don't normally get so much coverage, even though they deserve it. Please take a moment to read the article below.
A Molotov cocktail was thrown into the home of a Romani family in the Bedřiška settlement in the city of Ostrava during the early hours of Sunday morning. No one was injured. Speaking at a press conference today, Tomáš Landsfeld, director of the Ostrava Police, said that so far there is no reason to believe extremists were behind the attack. The case is being investigated by a special 15-member team as one of reckless endangerment. An unidentified perpetrator threw the Molotov cocktail through the window of a bedroom in which a 14-year-old girl was sleeping.
"Unacceptable, shocking, insane – such events have no place in a normal society. I firmly believe this case will be successfully investigated,” commented Czech PM Jan Fischer.
"We are afraid. Mainly we fear for our children. We will be patrolling," Jiří Koller, whose house is immediately adjacent to the scene of the attack, told the Czech Press Agency.
The victimized family said a white car with tinted windows drove by just before the attack. "I heard that, but I don’t know anything more. They say it was impossible to see into the car," Koller said. Police have also begun investigating this information.
"An as-yet unidentified perpetrator threw it through the window pane - it did not explode,” said Radovan Vojta, chief detective in Ostrava. Since the bottle did not break on impact, the burning fluid did not spill or flare up. The wick was the only part on fire. "The occupants were lucky. Had the bottle broken, a fire would have started. The house would have caught fire very quickly and the blaze could have reached the neighboring family. As many as eight people were endangered,” Vojta said.
Ludmila Podraná, whose home it was, is also afraid. "Our 14-year-old daughter saved our lives. If she had not put it out in time, we would all have gone up in flames,” she told the Czech Press Agency with tears in her eyes, adding that she had immediately thought of the fate of little Natálka from Vítkov. Ludmila’s husband Dušan said they heard nothing during the attack. "Our daughter woke us up afterward. The bottle flew through the window over her bed. Shards of glass rained down on her. The bottle hit a table and then the floor, where the carpet started to burn. She threw a blanket down on it and put out the fire. Then we called the police,” he said.
Detectives are now waiting for the results of the expert examination; while they already have some initial results, they will have not definitive results until the end of the week. "What we can say is that this was a highly flammable chemical, a first-class combustible. For tactical reasons we do not want give more specifics,” Vojta said, adding that for the time being, according to the available information, there is no evidence that this was a racially motivated attack by right-wing extremists. "Nothing links this case to Vítkov - maybe just the fact that a Molotov cocktail was used. However, those have been used in other cases,” the police officer said.
"I must admit that despite all my experience with racially motivated attacks during the past 10 years, I am once again completely aghast both at the news of another arson attack in Ostrava-Bedřiška and even more aghast at the news that once again, a case of this sort has not been taken up by the homicide division at regional police level, but is being initially investigated by local, district-level detectives,” Markus Pape told news server Romea.cz.
Pape believes this approach unfortunately means the Czech Interior Ministry and Czech Police Presidium have still not yet learned anything from the Vítkov case and are continuing to minimize similar cases, which will only lead to other, similar crimes. "The main thing missing is a simple order by the police president that every arson attack on a residence should be immediately classified as attempted murder. That would make it possible to employ the necessary top-level staff, technicians and methods to successfully hunt down the perpetrators. It is simply unacceptable that someone has to suffer burn injuries before the police adequately respond,” Pape said.
Pape believes that unless such an order is issued, such crimes will have more and more tragic results and certain people will have even more of a feeling that there is no place for them in the state. "This republic is slowly but surely gaining a reputation abroad as Molotov cocktail country,” Pape told Romea.cz.
Other residents of the Bedřiška settlement, which is not solely Roma-occupied, were also frightened by the attack. "We are concerned, mainly for our children. We are going to stand watch here ourselves. We will take turns being on the telephone. If something happens, we will call the police,” resident Koller told the Czech Press Agency. However, police want to dissuade the Roma from forming their own militia. "That is not necessary. We have no information that another attack might occur. We have increased our patrol services in the locality,” police director Landsfeld said. He said police have also contacted social workers and activists from non-profit organizations who should be active on the scene in order to dissuade people from establishing a militia.
Kumar Vishwanathan, chair of the Life Together civic association, who has devoted himself to working with the Roma minority for many years, intends to participate in that effort. "There is no reason to take any desperate steps like starting militias, etc. We want to calm the situation so the police can do their work, because they proved themselves capable of it in the Vítkov case, thanks to which they also have the very strong trust of the people,” Vishwanathan said.
The Bedřiška settlement, the site of several wooden single-family homes, became the topic of intensive discussion five years ago. Then-Mayor Liana Janáčková and Vice-Mayor Jiří Jezerský made controversial statements about the Romani inhabitants of Bedřiška. "Give me a gun license and permission to shoot and I’ll go do it,” Jizerský said. Janáčková identified herself as a racist and spoke of “Gypsies breeding” and the use of dynamite or a high electric fence.
The comments were captured on a recording made during a meeting of the neighborhood housing department at which long-term residents of the settlement complained about the behavior of the Roma. Jezerský was even brought before the Ostrava District Court in connection with his remarks. The court acquitted him, saying he allegedly had not committed a crime. Janáčková was never prosecuted because the Czech Senate refused to strip her of immunity.
According to the Czech Labor Ministry, there are 10 similar ghettos in Ostrava predominantly occupied by Roma. As many as 6 600 people may be living in these areas. Most of the Roma were intentionally relocated to these areas in recent years. The majority of the adults in these areas are out of work; in some places, unemployment is 100 %. These families are dependent on welfare benefits. Usually residents of these areas have achieved only an elementary school education at the most. Loan-sharking thrives in many of the Ostrava localities, as do drug dealing, drug dependency, and shoplifting.
Last April arsonists attacked the home of a Romani family in Vítkov. Investigators found three Molotov cocktails had been thrown into the home. Three people were injured in the subsequent blaze. The most seriously injured was little Natálka, who was not yet two years old. She suffered extensive second and third-degree burns over 80 % of her body.
The trial of the four right-wing extremists from the Bruntál and Opava districts accused of the Vítkov arson will begin at the Regional Court in Ostrava on 11 May. The main hearing will involve extraordinary security measures. The men are accused of racially motivated attempted murder against more than one victim, including one child. They face up to 15 years in prison, but exceptional sentencing, including life sentencing, is also a possibility.
Selected cases of arson attacks on Romani family residences
11 July 1994 – In the Zelené údolí neighborhood of Jablonec nad Nisou, a small group of skinheads threw Molotov cocktails into an apartment occupied by a Romani family. A 12-year-old girl and her mother suffered severe burns during the attack. The others present escaped without injury.
4 February 1996 – In Krnov (Bruntál district) four youths, evidently skinheads, threw Molotov cocktails through the windows of two ground-floor apartments. One of the dwellings caught fire; it was not put out until firefighters responded. A second attack took place there on 16 February, when a different group of two new attackers attempted to set another house on fire. Six youths were charged with these racially motivated arsons (police investigated them as individuals). In 2002, the court gave four of the men suspended sentences; a fifth man, the oldest of them, was sentenced to three years in prison.
17 January 1998 – A group of assailants threw a Molotov cocktail into the ground-floor apartment of a five-member Romani family in Krnov (Bruntál district) in the early morning hours of 17 January. A 48-year-old woman suffered severe second and third-degree burns and a man suffered light injuries. The fire destroyed all of the fixtures in the apartment. One hour after this attack, an unidentified assailant set a personal vehicle owned by a Romani man on fire elsewhere in Krnov. Police charged three local youths with the first attack. In February 2002 the District Court in Krnov sentenced Radek Bedrim, a member of several neo-Nazi groups, to two years in prison without parole. The court acquitted his two accomplices for lack of evidence.
28 February 1998 – Another nighttime attack in Krnov; hooligans threw another Molotov cocktail through the window of a ground-floor apartment occupied by Roma. No one was injured.
19 October 1998 – At 2 AM, an unidentified perpetrator threw a Molotov cocktail into the flat of a four-member Romani family on Foerstrova street in the Mariánské Hory neighborhood of Ostrava. Residents managed to put out the fire and there were no injuries.
12 June 1999 – An unidentified arsonist set fire to a Roma dwelling in Plavy (Jablonec district) by throwing two Molotov cocktails through a closed window. A 22-year-old woman was sleeping in the room with her two-month-old son and two other children aged two and three when the curtains and valance caught fire.
14 July 2000 – A Romani family in Rokycany reported two skinheads attacked their single-family home with a Molotov cocktail in the evening. The bottle filled with gasoline hit the window frame and landed outside the house. No damage was caused to the targeted room in which three children were sleeping.
24 July 2002 – Unidentified arsonists threw two Molotov cocktails into a Roma-occupied home in the Hranice neighborhood of Karviná at around 23:00. One hit the front wall of the house and the parapet of the kitchen window while the second flew through an open window. Residents put out the fire. No one was injured.
30 June 2007 – Unidentified arsonists threw a Molotov cocktail into the home of a Romani family in Vrbno pod Pradědem at around 23:00. Five people were in the house, two adults and three children. No one was injured.
21 September 2008 – Kitchen fixtures were set on fire after someone threw a Molotov cocktail into the ground-floor apartment of a Romani family in Bruntál. Five people were sleeping there at the time, no one was injured.
19. April 2009 – Arsonists attacked the single-family home of a Romani family in Vítkov (Opava district). Police say three Molotov cocktails were thrown into the house. Three people were injured during the subsequent blaze. The most serious injuries were suffered by a girl who was not quite two years old and sustained second and third-degree burns over 80 % of her body. Four right-wing extremists from Bruntál and Opava districts have been charged with racially motivated attempted murder. Their trial is to begin in May.
24 May 2009 - In Zdiby u Prahy, arsonists attacked a Romani family, throwing two Molotov cocktails into their home. Nothing happened to the family members, who succeeded in putting the fire out in time.
24 September 2009 – The Prima television station reported that attackers threw a Molotov cocktail at a Roma-occupied home in Mikulov, South Moravia. No one was injured. The time of the attack was not reported.
15 March 2010 – In the early morning hours of 14 March, someone threw a Molotov cocktail into the home of a Romani family in the Bedřiška settlement in Ostrava. Residents succeeded in putting out the fire and no one was injured. A special police team is investigating the case as one of reckless endangerment.
ryz, Czech Press Agency, translated by Gwendolyn Albert
ROMEA
A Molotov cocktail was thrown into the home of a Romani family in the Bedřiška settlement in the city of Ostrava during the early hours of Sunday morning. No one was injured. Speaking at a press conference today, Tomáš Landsfeld, director of the Ostrava Police, said that so far there is no reason to believe extremists were behind the attack. The case is being investigated by a special 15-member team as one of reckless endangerment. An unidentified perpetrator threw the Molotov cocktail through the window of a bedroom in which a 14-year-old girl was sleeping.
"Unacceptable, shocking, insane – such events have no place in a normal society. I firmly believe this case will be successfully investigated,” commented Czech PM Jan Fischer.
"We are afraid. Mainly we fear for our children. We will be patrolling," Jiří Koller, whose house is immediately adjacent to the scene of the attack, told the Czech Press Agency.
The victimized family said a white car with tinted windows drove by just before the attack. "I heard that, but I don’t know anything more. They say it was impossible to see into the car," Koller said. Police have also begun investigating this information.
"An as-yet unidentified perpetrator threw it through the window pane - it did not explode,” said Radovan Vojta, chief detective in Ostrava. Since the bottle did not break on impact, the burning fluid did not spill or flare up. The wick was the only part on fire. "The occupants were lucky. Had the bottle broken, a fire would have started. The house would have caught fire very quickly and the blaze could have reached the neighboring family. As many as eight people were endangered,” Vojta said.
Ludmila Podraná, whose home it was, is also afraid. "Our 14-year-old daughter saved our lives. If she had not put it out in time, we would all have gone up in flames,” she told the Czech Press Agency with tears in her eyes, adding that she had immediately thought of the fate of little Natálka from Vítkov. Ludmila’s husband Dušan said they heard nothing during the attack. "Our daughter woke us up afterward. The bottle flew through the window over her bed. Shards of glass rained down on her. The bottle hit a table and then the floor, where the carpet started to burn. She threw a blanket down on it and put out the fire. Then we called the police,” he said.
Detectives are now waiting for the results of the expert examination; while they already have some initial results, they will have not definitive results until the end of the week. "What we can say is that this was a highly flammable chemical, a first-class combustible. For tactical reasons we do not want give more specifics,” Vojta said, adding that for the time being, according to the available information, there is no evidence that this was a racially motivated attack by right-wing extremists. "Nothing links this case to Vítkov - maybe just the fact that a Molotov cocktail was used. However, those have been used in other cases,” the police officer said.
"I must admit that despite all my experience with racially motivated attacks during the past 10 years, I am once again completely aghast both at the news of another arson attack in Ostrava-Bedřiška and even more aghast at the news that once again, a case of this sort has not been taken up by the homicide division at regional police level, but is being initially investigated by local, district-level detectives,” Markus Pape told news server Romea.cz.
Pape believes this approach unfortunately means the Czech Interior Ministry and Czech Police Presidium have still not yet learned anything from the Vítkov case and are continuing to minimize similar cases, which will only lead to other, similar crimes. "The main thing missing is a simple order by the police president that every arson attack on a residence should be immediately classified as attempted murder. That would make it possible to employ the necessary top-level staff, technicians and methods to successfully hunt down the perpetrators. It is simply unacceptable that someone has to suffer burn injuries before the police adequately respond,” Pape said.
Pape believes that unless such an order is issued, such crimes will have more and more tragic results and certain people will have even more of a feeling that there is no place for them in the state. "This republic is slowly but surely gaining a reputation abroad as Molotov cocktail country,” Pape told Romea.cz.
Other residents of the Bedřiška settlement, which is not solely Roma-occupied, were also frightened by the attack. "We are concerned, mainly for our children. We are going to stand watch here ourselves. We will take turns being on the telephone. If something happens, we will call the police,” resident Koller told the Czech Press Agency. However, police want to dissuade the Roma from forming their own militia. "That is not necessary. We have no information that another attack might occur. We have increased our patrol services in the locality,” police director Landsfeld said. He said police have also contacted social workers and activists from non-profit organizations who should be active on the scene in order to dissuade people from establishing a militia.
Kumar Vishwanathan, chair of the Life Together civic association, who has devoted himself to working with the Roma minority for many years, intends to participate in that effort. "There is no reason to take any desperate steps like starting militias, etc. We want to calm the situation so the police can do their work, because they proved themselves capable of it in the Vítkov case, thanks to which they also have the very strong trust of the people,” Vishwanathan said.
The Bedřiška settlement, the site of several wooden single-family homes, became the topic of intensive discussion five years ago. Then-Mayor Liana Janáčková and Vice-Mayor Jiří Jezerský made controversial statements about the Romani inhabitants of Bedřiška. "Give me a gun license and permission to shoot and I’ll go do it,” Jizerský said. Janáčková identified herself as a racist and spoke of “Gypsies breeding” and the use of dynamite or a high electric fence.
The comments were captured on a recording made during a meeting of the neighborhood housing department at which long-term residents of the settlement complained about the behavior of the Roma. Jezerský was even brought before the Ostrava District Court in connection with his remarks. The court acquitted him, saying he allegedly had not committed a crime. Janáčková was never prosecuted because the Czech Senate refused to strip her of immunity.
According to the Czech Labor Ministry, there are 10 similar ghettos in Ostrava predominantly occupied by Roma. As many as 6 600 people may be living in these areas. Most of the Roma were intentionally relocated to these areas in recent years. The majority of the adults in these areas are out of work; in some places, unemployment is 100 %. These families are dependent on welfare benefits. Usually residents of these areas have achieved only an elementary school education at the most. Loan-sharking thrives in many of the Ostrava localities, as do drug dealing, drug dependency, and shoplifting.
Last April arsonists attacked the home of a Romani family in Vítkov. Investigators found three Molotov cocktails had been thrown into the home. Three people were injured in the subsequent blaze. The most seriously injured was little Natálka, who was not yet two years old. She suffered extensive second and third-degree burns over 80 % of her body.
The trial of the four right-wing extremists from the Bruntál and Opava districts accused of the Vítkov arson will begin at the Regional Court in Ostrava on 11 May. The main hearing will involve extraordinary security measures. The men are accused of racially motivated attempted murder against more than one victim, including one child. They face up to 15 years in prison, but exceptional sentencing, including life sentencing, is also a possibility.
Selected cases of arson attacks on Romani family residences
11 July 1994 – In the Zelené údolí neighborhood of Jablonec nad Nisou, a small group of skinheads threw Molotov cocktails into an apartment occupied by a Romani family. A 12-year-old girl and her mother suffered severe burns during the attack. The others present escaped without injury.
4 February 1996 – In Krnov (Bruntál district) four youths, evidently skinheads, threw Molotov cocktails through the windows of two ground-floor apartments. One of the dwellings caught fire; it was not put out until firefighters responded. A second attack took place there on 16 February, when a different group of two new attackers attempted to set another house on fire. Six youths were charged with these racially motivated arsons (police investigated them as individuals). In 2002, the court gave four of the men suspended sentences; a fifth man, the oldest of them, was sentenced to three years in prison.
17 January 1998 – A group of assailants threw a Molotov cocktail into the ground-floor apartment of a five-member Romani family in Krnov (Bruntál district) in the early morning hours of 17 January. A 48-year-old woman suffered severe second and third-degree burns and a man suffered light injuries. The fire destroyed all of the fixtures in the apartment. One hour after this attack, an unidentified assailant set a personal vehicle owned by a Romani man on fire elsewhere in Krnov. Police charged three local youths with the first attack. In February 2002 the District Court in Krnov sentenced Radek Bedrim, a member of several neo-Nazi groups, to two years in prison without parole. The court acquitted his two accomplices for lack of evidence.
28 February 1998 – Another nighttime attack in Krnov; hooligans threw another Molotov cocktail through the window of a ground-floor apartment occupied by Roma. No one was injured.
19 October 1998 – At 2 AM, an unidentified perpetrator threw a Molotov cocktail into the flat of a four-member Romani family on Foerstrova street in the Mariánské Hory neighborhood of Ostrava. Residents managed to put out the fire and there were no injuries.
12 June 1999 – An unidentified arsonist set fire to a Roma dwelling in Plavy (Jablonec district) by throwing two Molotov cocktails through a closed window. A 22-year-old woman was sleeping in the room with her two-month-old son and two other children aged two and three when the curtains and valance caught fire.
14 July 2000 – A Romani family in Rokycany reported two skinheads attacked their single-family home with a Molotov cocktail in the evening. The bottle filled with gasoline hit the window frame and landed outside the house. No damage was caused to the targeted room in which three children were sleeping.
24 July 2002 – Unidentified arsonists threw two Molotov cocktails into a Roma-occupied home in the Hranice neighborhood of Karviná at around 23:00. One hit the front wall of the house and the parapet of the kitchen window while the second flew through an open window. Residents put out the fire. No one was injured.
30 June 2007 – Unidentified arsonists threw a Molotov cocktail into the home of a Romani family in Vrbno pod Pradědem at around 23:00. Five people were in the house, two adults and three children. No one was injured.
21 September 2008 – Kitchen fixtures were set on fire after someone threw a Molotov cocktail into the ground-floor apartment of a Romani family in Bruntál. Five people were sleeping there at the time, no one was injured.
19. April 2009 – Arsonists attacked the single-family home of a Romani family in Vítkov (Opava district). Police say three Molotov cocktails were thrown into the house. Three people were injured during the subsequent blaze. The most serious injuries were suffered by a girl who was not quite two years old and sustained second and third-degree burns over 80 % of her body. Four right-wing extremists from Bruntál and Opava districts have been charged with racially motivated attempted murder. Their trial is to begin in May.
24 May 2009 - In Zdiby u Prahy, arsonists attacked a Romani family, throwing two Molotov cocktails into their home. Nothing happened to the family members, who succeeded in putting the fire out in time.
24 September 2009 – The Prima television station reported that attackers threw a Molotov cocktail at a Roma-occupied home in Mikulov, South Moravia. No one was injured. The time of the attack was not reported.
15 March 2010 – In the early morning hours of 14 March, someone threw a Molotov cocktail into the home of a Romani family in the Bedřiška settlement in Ostrava. Residents succeeded in putting out the fire and no one was injured. A special police team is investigating the case as one of reckless endangerment.
ryz, Czech Press Agency, translated by Gwendolyn Albert
ROMEA
A Molotov cocktail was thrown into the home of a Romani family in the Bedřiška settlement in the city of Ostrava during the early hours of Sunday morning. No one was injured. Speaking at a press conference today, Tomáš Landsfeld, director of the Ostrava Police, said that so far there is no reason to believe extremists were behind the attack. The case is being investigated by a special 15-member team as one of reckless endangerment. An unidentified perpetrator threw the Molotov cocktail through the window of a bedroom in which a 14-year-old girl was sleeping.
"Unacceptable, shocking, insane – such events have no place in a normal society. I firmly believe this case will be successfully investigated,” commented Czech PM Jan Fischer.
"We are afraid. Mainly we fear for our children. We will be patrolling," Jiří Koller, whose house is immediately adjacent to the scene of the attack, told the Czech Press Agency.
The victimized family said a white car with tinted windows drove by just before the attack. "I heard that, but I don’t know anything more. They say it was impossible to see into the car," Koller said. Police have also begun investigating this information.
"An as-yet unidentified perpetrator threw it through the window pane - it did not explode,” said Radovan Vojta, chief detective in Ostrava. Since the bottle did not break on impact, the burning fluid did not spill or flare up. The wick was the only part on fire. "The occupants were lucky. Had the bottle broken, a fire would have started. The house would have caught fire very quickly and the blaze could have reached the neighboring family. As many as eight people were endangered,” Vojta said.
Ludmila Podraná, whose home it was, is also afraid. "Our 14-year-old daughter saved our lives. If she had not put it out in time, we would all have gone up in flames,” she told the Czech Press Agency with tears in her eyes, adding that she had immediately thought of the fate of little Natálka from Vítkov. Ludmila’s husband Dušan said they heard nothing during the attack. "Our daughter woke us up afterward. The bottle flew through the window over her bed. Shards of glass rained down on her. The bottle hit a table and then the floor, where the carpet started to burn. She threw a blanket down on it and put out the fire. Then we called the police,” he said.
Detectives are now waiting for the results of the expert examination; while they already have some initial results, they will have not definitive results until the end of the week. "What we can say is that this was a highly flammable chemical, a first-class combustible. For tactical reasons we do not want give more specifics,” Vojta said, adding that for the time being, according to the available information, there is no evidence that this was a racially motivated attack by right-wing extremists. "Nothing links this case to Vítkov - maybe just the fact that a Molotov cocktail was used. However, those have been used in other cases,” the police officer said.
"I must admit that despite all my experience with racially motivated attacks during the past 10 years, I am once again completely aghast both at the news of another arson attack in Ostrava-Bedřiška and even more aghast at the news that once again, a case of this sort has not been taken up by the homicide division at regional police level, but is being initially investigated by local, district-level detectives,” Markus Pape told news server Romea.cz.
Pape believes this approach unfortunately means the Czech Interior Ministry and Czech Police Presidium have still not yet learned anything from the Vítkov case and are continuing to minimize similar cases, which will only lead to other, similar crimes. "The main thing missing is a simple order by the police president that every arson attack on a residence should be immediately classified as attempted murder. That would make it possible to employ the necessary top-level staff, technicians and methods to successfully hunt down the perpetrators. It is simply unacceptable that someone has to suffer burn injuries before the police adequately respond,” Pape said.
Pape believes that unless such an order is issued, such crimes will have more and more tragic results and certain people will have even more of a feeling that there is no place for them in the state. "This republic is slowly but surely gaining a reputation abroad as Molotov cocktail country,” Pape told Romea.cz.
Other residents of the Bedřiška settlement, which is not solely Roma-occupied, were also frightened by the attack. "We are concerned, mainly for our children. We are going to stand watch here ourselves. We will take turns being on the telephone. If something happens, we will call the police,” resident Koller told the Czech Press Agency. However, police want to dissuade the Roma from forming their own militia. "That is not necessary. We have no information that another attack might occur. We have increased our patrol services in the locality,” police director Landsfeld said. He said police have also contacted social workers and activists from non-profit organizations who should be active on the scene in order to dissuade people from establishing a militia.
Kumar Vishwanathan, chair of the Life Together civic association, who has devoted himself to working with the Roma minority for many years, intends to participate in that effort. "There is no reason to take any desperate steps like starting militias, etc. We want to calm the situation so the police can do their work, because they proved themselves capable of it in the Vítkov case, thanks to which they also have the very strong trust of the people,” Vishwanathan said.
The Bedřiška settlement, the site of several wooden single-family homes, became the topic of intensive discussion five years ago. Then-Mayor Liana Janáčková and Vice-Mayor Jiří Jezerský made controversial statements about the Romani inhabitants of Bedřiška. "Give me a gun license and permission to shoot and I’ll go do it,” Jizerský said. Janáčková identified herself as a racist and spoke of “Gypsies breeding” and the use of dynamite or a high electric fence.
The comments were captured on a recording made during a meeting of the neighborhood housing department at which long-term residents of the settlement complained about the behavior of the Roma. Jezerský was even brought before the Ostrava District Court in connection with his remarks. The court acquitted him, saying he allegedly had not committed a crime. Janáčková was never prosecuted because the Czech Senate refused to strip her of immunity.
According to the Czech Labor Ministry, there are 10 similar ghettos in Ostrava predominantly occupied by Roma. As many as 6 600 people may be living in these areas. Most of the Roma were intentionally relocated to these areas in recent years. The majority of the adults in these areas are out of work; in some places, unemployment is 100 %. These families are dependent on welfare benefits. Usually residents of these areas have achieved only an elementary school education at the most. Loan-sharking thrives in many of the Ostrava localities, as do drug dealing, drug dependency, and shoplifting.
Last April arsonists attacked the home of a Romani family in Vítkov. Investigators found three Molotov cocktails had been thrown into the home. Three people were injured in the subsequent blaze. The most seriously injured was little Natálka, who was not yet two years old. She suffered extensive second and third-degree burns over 80 % of her body.
The trial of the four right-wing extremists from the Bruntál and Opava districts accused of the Vítkov arson will begin at the Regional Court in Ostrava on 11 May. The main hearing will involve extraordinary security measures. The men are accused of racially motivated attempted murder against more than one victim, including one child. They face up to 15 years in prison, but exceptional sentencing, including life sentencing, is also a possibility.
Selected cases of arson attacks on Romani family residences
11 July 1994 – In the Zelené údolí neighborhood of Jablonec nad Nisou, a small group of skinheads threw Molotov cocktails into an apartment occupied by a Romani family. A 12-year-old girl and her mother suffered severe burns during the attack. The others present escaped without injury.
4 February 1996 – In Krnov (Bruntál district) four youths, evidently skinheads, threw Molotov cocktails through the windows of two ground-floor apartments. One of the dwellings caught fire; it was not put out until firefighters responded. A second attack took place there on 16 February, when a different group of two new attackers attempted to set another house on fire. Six youths were charged with these racially motivated arsons (police investigated them as individuals). In 2002, the court gave four of the men suspended sentences; a fifth man, the oldest of them, was sentenced to three years in prison.
17 January 1998 – A group of assailants threw a Molotov cocktail into the ground-floor apartment of a five-member Romani family in Krnov (Bruntál district) in the early morning hours of 17 January. A 48-year-old woman suffered severe second and third-degree burns and a man suffered light injuries. The fire destroyed all of the fixtures in the apartment. One hour after this attack, an unidentified assailant set a personal vehicle owned by a Romani man on fire elsewhere in Krnov. Police charged three local youths with the first attack. In February 2002 the District Court in Krnov sentenced Radek Bedrim, a member of several neo-Nazi groups, to two years in prison without parole. The court acquitted his two accomplices for lack of evidence.
28 February 1998 – Another nighttime attack in Krnov; hooligans threw another Molotov cocktail through the window of a ground-floor apartment occupied by Roma. No one was injured.
19 October 1998 – At 2 AM, an unidentified perpetrator threw a Molotov cocktail into the flat of a four-member Romani family on Foerstrova street in the Mariánské Hory neighborhood of Ostrava. Residents managed to put out the fire and there were no injuries.
12 June 1999 – An unidentified arsonist set fire to a Roma dwelling in Plavy (Jablonec district) by throwing two Molotov cocktails through a closed window. A 22-year-old woman was sleeping in the room with her two-month-old son and two other children aged two and three when the curtains and valance caught fire.
14 July 2000 – A Romani family in Rokycany reported two skinheads attacked their single-family home with a Molotov cocktail in the evening. The bottle filled with gasoline hit the window frame and landed outside the house. No damage was caused to the targeted room in which three children were sleeping.
24 July 2002 – Unidentified arsonists threw two Molotov cocktails into a Roma-occupied home in the Hranice neighborhood of Karviná at around 23:00. One hit the front wall of the house and the parapet of the kitchen window while the second flew through an open window. Residents put out the fire. No one was injured.
30 June 2007 – Unidentified arsonists threw a Molotov cocktail into the home of a Romani family in Vrbno pod Pradědem at around 23:00. Five people were in the house, two adults and three children. No one was injured.
21 September 2008 – Kitchen fixtures were set on fire after someone threw a Molotov cocktail into the ground-floor apartment of a Romani family in Bruntál. Five people were sleeping there at the time, no one was injured.
19. April 2009 – Arsonists attacked the single-family home of a Romani family in Vítkov (Opava district). Police say three Molotov cocktails were thrown into the house. Three people were injured during the subsequent blaze. The most serious injuries were suffered by a girl who was not quite two years old and sustained second and third-degree burns over 80 % of her body. Four right-wing extremists from Bruntál and Opava districts have been charged with racially motivated attempted murder. Their trial is to begin in May.
24 May 2009 - In Zdiby u Prahy, arsonists attacked a Romani family, throwing two Molotov cocktails into their home. Nothing happened to the family members, who succeeded in putting the fire out in time.
24 September 2009 – The Prima television station reported that attackers threw a Molotov cocktail at a Roma-occupied home in Mikulov, South Moravia. No one was injured. The time of the attack was not reported.
15 March 2010 – In the early morning hours of 14 March, someone threw a Molotov cocktail into the home of a Romani family in the Bedřiška settlement in Ostrava. Residents succeeded in putting out the fire and no one was injured. A special police team is investigating the case as one of reckless endangerment.
ryz, Czech Press Agency, translated by Gwendolyn Albert
ROMEA
USA voices concern about Antiziganism in Romania
USA has expressed “major concern” regarding discrimination against Roma in Romania.
In its annual “Human Rights Report” about Romania issued recently, US Department of State says: “Roma faced persistent poverty and had poor access to government services, few employment opportunities, high rates of school attrition, inadequate health care, and pervasive discrimination.”
The US report talks about police brutality, pervasive societal discrimination, anti-Roma slogans and banners, destruction of houses and cars and setting a house on fire in Roma community in Sanmartin and Roma taking refuge in woods, setting fire to several stables belonging to Roma in Sancraieni, anti-Roma messages on a politician’s blog, denial of access or refusal of service to Roma in many public places including bars/clubs, repeated refusal of a doctor in Vartop village to treat Roma patients, likelihood of ethnic Roma to live below the poverty line five times as compared to majority population, large exclusion from administrative and legal system, 4.9 percent of Roma lacking birth certificate, lack of identity cards excluding many Roma from various programs, inadequate and ineffective government assistance to the Roma, etc.
Report also refers to non-completion of high school by 95 per cent Roma; 23 percent illiteracy among Roma; discrimination by teachers and other students against Romani students; reports of Romani children being placed in the back of classrooms and of teachers ignoring Romani students and of unimpeded bullying of Romani students by other schoolchildren; placing of Romani students in separate classrooms from other students or in separate schools; school segregation cases in Albeni, Corabia, Cugir, and Polovraci; refusal by a kindergarten teacher in Magheru to enrol the twins of a Romani woman for several years; etc.
It also mentions a report which said that approximately 60 percent of Roma lived segregated from the majority population in communities with substandard housing and without basic governmental services, such as schools, adequate health care, running water, electricity, and waste disposal. “Stereotypes and use of discriminatory language against Roma were widespread; journalists and even high ranking officials frequently made discriminatory statements”, it adds.
The Romani population was estimated at between 1.8 and 2.5 million in Romania by this report.
*Article provided by Rajan Zed. The version on this blog is edited, by me, for brevity and clarity.
In its annual “Human Rights Report” about Romania issued recently, US Department of State says: “Roma faced persistent poverty and had poor access to government services, few employment opportunities, high rates of school attrition, inadequate health care, and pervasive discrimination.”
The US report talks about police brutality, pervasive societal discrimination, anti-Roma slogans and banners, destruction of houses and cars and setting a house on fire in Roma community in Sanmartin and Roma taking refuge in woods, setting fire to several stables belonging to Roma in Sancraieni, anti-Roma messages on a politician’s blog, denial of access or refusal of service to Roma in many public places including bars/clubs, repeated refusal of a doctor in Vartop village to treat Roma patients, likelihood of ethnic Roma to live below the poverty line five times as compared to majority population, large exclusion from administrative and legal system, 4.9 percent of Roma lacking birth certificate, lack of identity cards excluding many Roma from various programs, inadequate and ineffective government assistance to the Roma, etc.
Report also refers to non-completion of high school by 95 per cent Roma; 23 percent illiteracy among Roma; discrimination by teachers and other students against Romani students; reports of Romani children being placed in the back of classrooms and of teachers ignoring Romani students and of unimpeded bullying of Romani students by other schoolchildren; placing of Romani students in separate classrooms from other students or in separate schools; school segregation cases in Albeni, Corabia, Cugir, and Polovraci; refusal by a kindergarten teacher in Magheru to enrol the twins of a Romani woman for several years; etc.
It also mentions a report which said that approximately 60 percent of Roma lived segregated from the majority population in communities with substandard housing and without basic governmental services, such as schools, adequate health care, running water, electricity, and waste disposal. “Stereotypes and use of discriminatory language against Roma were widespread; journalists and even high ranking officials frequently made discriminatory statements”, it adds.
The Romani population was estimated at between 1.8 and 2.5 million in Romania by this report.
*Article provided by Rajan Zed. The version on this blog is edited, by me, for brevity and clarity.
Antiziganism
I found the following post on the Amnesty International USA blog. I think it is a really helpful guide for anyone who wants to better understand the Roma plight. It was first posted in 2009, but it is still extremely relevant. Also, I think it is important to name a problem, for practical reasons (like, talking about it!) and for psychological reasons. To name a problem is to identify it, which is the first step to solving it. Antiziganism is a word that means hostility and prejudice directed toward the Romani people. You can find the original post here: http://blog.amnestyusa.org/tag/roma/
Perhaps the most oppressed people in history, Roma – commonly referred to as Gypsies – have been persecuted since they arrived in Europe in 1300 C.E.
The New York Times reports that institutionalized and societal prejudice against Roma is enflaming violence in Europe:
[...]
Prejudice against Roma — widely known as Gypsies and long among Europe’s most oppressed minority groups — has swelled into a wave of violence. Over the past year, at least seven Roma have been killed in Hungary, and Roma leaders have counted some 30 Molotov cocktail attacks against Roma homes, often accompanied by sprays of gunfire.
[...]
In addition to Mr. Koka’s death, there were the slayings of a Roma man and woman, who were shot after their house was set ablaze last November in Nagycsecs, a town about an hour’s drive from Tiszalok in northeastern Hungary. And in February, a Roma man and his 4-year-old son were gunned down as they tried to escape from their home, which was set on fire in Tatarszentgyorgy, a small town south of Budapest.
[...]
Experts on Roma issues describe an ever more aggressive atmosphere toward Roma in Hungary and elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe, led by extreme right-wing parties, whose leaders are playing on old stereotypes of Roma as petty criminals and drains on social welfare systems at a time of rising economic and political turmoil. As unemployment rises, officials and Roma experts fear the attacks will only intensify.
[...]
Persecution against Roma, as detailed in just one Amnesty International press release from yesterday, is nothing new. Neither is the unwillingness of authorities to stop the oppression. In the Czech republic, for instance:
[...]
Roma… continue to suffer discrimination at the hands of both public officials and private individuals, including in the areas of housing, education, health care and employment.
Not only do they face forced evictions, segregation in education and racially motivated violence, but they have been denied justice when seeking redress for the abuses against them.
[...]
The history of Roma persecution goes back hundreds of years ago. Throughout 16-18th century, Roma were hanged without trial in Europe. In 1921, nonetheless, Czechoslovakia shortly recognized Roma as “nationality.” In 1933, Hitler ordered sterilization of Roma. Later, up to half a million Roma were killed in the Holocaust. In just one act, 4,000 Roma were gassed and cremated in Auschwitz on August 2, 1944. Unlike the Jewish victims, Roma victims of the Holocaust are rarely researched or commemorated.
With some activism in Eastern Europe in the 1990s, Roma still face institutional and social discrimination in Europe. In Italy, the government fingerprints them. In 2008, bodies of two drowned Roma children were left at the beach while Italians and tourists vacationed a few feet away.
As late as 1998, the state of New Jersey in the US had anti-Roma laws. Popular American TV star Judge Judy has used the word “Gypsy” at least once as a synonym for a “thief” on her show after 2005. While Judge Judy’s remark can be explained perhaps by her lack of knowledge of Roma issues, the same cannot be said about influential people in countries with large Roma populations. In one such state, Romania, the president called a journalist “dirty Gypsy” in 2007.
While many Roma have historically assimilated (accepted, for example, Islam in the Middle East and Christianity in Europe), scores of them choose to keep their ancestral, migratory way of life despite hundreds of years of slavery, universal persecution and genocide. Others have established enclaves in different countries where they demand integration and respect. Roma supposedly left India as a result of foreign invasion to avoid persecution. Their common name “Gypsy” is a misconception that Roma originated in Egypt.
Many of the unassimilated Roma demand freedom of travel and not be regulated.
A unique case of stateless people, Roma do not demand independence or even political autonomy. The Roma persecution has brought about little outrage throughout the world. The problem, in this case, is definitely the lack of awareness.
In my home country Armenia, for instance, the word “Bosha” is an insult – while it used to be the ethnic name for the Roma who have either entirely assimilated or prefer to be called Lom. Their language, Lomavren, a unique mixture with medieval Armenian, has long vanished.
It is time that the world stand up against Antiziganism. Perhaps Amnesty International should adopt the cause of fighting Antiziganism as one of its main goals?
Perhaps the most oppressed people in history, Roma – commonly referred to as Gypsies – have been persecuted since they arrived in Europe in 1300 C.E.
The New York Times reports that institutionalized and societal prejudice against Roma is enflaming violence in Europe:
[...]
Prejudice against Roma — widely known as Gypsies and long among Europe’s most oppressed minority groups — has swelled into a wave of violence. Over the past year, at least seven Roma have been killed in Hungary, and Roma leaders have counted some 30 Molotov cocktail attacks against Roma homes, often accompanied by sprays of gunfire.
[...]
In addition to Mr. Koka’s death, there were the slayings of a Roma man and woman, who were shot after their house was set ablaze last November in Nagycsecs, a town about an hour’s drive from Tiszalok in northeastern Hungary. And in February, a Roma man and his 4-year-old son were gunned down as they tried to escape from their home, which was set on fire in Tatarszentgyorgy, a small town south of Budapest.
[...]
Experts on Roma issues describe an ever more aggressive atmosphere toward Roma in Hungary and elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe, led by extreme right-wing parties, whose leaders are playing on old stereotypes of Roma as petty criminals and drains on social welfare systems at a time of rising economic and political turmoil. As unemployment rises, officials and Roma experts fear the attacks will only intensify.
[...]
Persecution against Roma, as detailed in just one Amnesty International press release from yesterday, is nothing new. Neither is the unwillingness of authorities to stop the oppression. In the Czech republic, for instance:
[...]
Roma… continue to suffer discrimination at the hands of both public officials and private individuals, including in the areas of housing, education, health care and employment.
Not only do they face forced evictions, segregation in education and racially motivated violence, but they have been denied justice when seeking redress for the abuses against them.
[...]
The history of Roma persecution goes back hundreds of years ago. Throughout 16-18th century, Roma were hanged without trial in Europe. In 1921, nonetheless, Czechoslovakia shortly recognized Roma as “nationality.” In 1933, Hitler ordered sterilization of Roma. Later, up to half a million Roma were killed in the Holocaust. In just one act, 4,000 Roma were gassed and cremated in Auschwitz on August 2, 1944. Unlike the Jewish victims, Roma victims of the Holocaust are rarely researched or commemorated.
With some activism in Eastern Europe in the 1990s, Roma still face institutional and social discrimination in Europe. In Italy, the government fingerprints them. In 2008, bodies of two drowned Roma children were left at the beach while Italians and tourists vacationed a few feet away.
As late as 1998, the state of New Jersey in the US had anti-Roma laws. Popular American TV star Judge Judy has used the word “Gypsy” at least once as a synonym for a “thief” on her show after 2005. While Judge Judy’s remark can be explained perhaps by her lack of knowledge of Roma issues, the same cannot be said about influential people in countries with large Roma populations. In one such state, Romania, the president called a journalist “dirty Gypsy” in 2007.
While many Roma have historically assimilated (accepted, for example, Islam in the Middle East and Christianity in Europe), scores of them choose to keep their ancestral, migratory way of life despite hundreds of years of slavery, universal persecution and genocide. Others have established enclaves in different countries where they demand integration and respect. Roma supposedly left India as a result of foreign invasion to avoid persecution. Their common name “Gypsy” is a misconception that Roma originated in Egypt.
Many of the unassimilated Roma demand freedom of travel and not be regulated.
A unique case of stateless people, Roma do not demand independence or even political autonomy. The Roma persecution has brought about little outrage throughout the world. The problem, in this case, is definitely the lack of awareness.
In my home country Armenia, for instance, the word “Bosha” is an insult – while it used to be the ethnic name for the Roma who have either entirely assimilated or prefer to be called Lom. Their language, Lomavren, a unique mixture with medieval Armenian, has long vanished.
It is time that the world stand up against Antiziganism. Perhaps Amnesty International should adopt the cause of fighting Antiziganism as one of its main goals?
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