Czech Republic Detains 100 In Massive Anti-Roma Protests
(Vatican Radio) A tense calm has returned to the Czech Republic where officials say
some 100 far-rights activists have been detained in violent demonstrations against
gypsies, also known as Roma.
Officials said arrests were made in at least
eight cities, including in northeastern Ostrava, which resembled a warzone Saturday.
Riot police used teargas to prevent hundreds of far right activists from entering
a district mainly inhabited by Roma.
There were violent clashes between stone-throwing
protesters and police in what rights activists viewed as a show of hatred towards
the already discriminated and largely impoverished Roma minority.
At least
60 demonstrators were detained in Ostrava alone. More arrests took place during smaller
anti-Roma marches held in other cities and towns across the Czech Republic.
Advocacy
group Amnesty International had urged the Czech government to "ensure that these protests
do not lead to violence against Roma communities, and that those at risk get the protection
they need".
"LIST OF LIES"
Government officials said the protests
were fueled by what they called "a list of lies" distributed through the Internet.
It alleges that Roma can easily receive a one-off payment of 230,000 crowns, besides
monthly payments for rent from municipalities, and that cities pay for school supplies.
The list prompted the country’s Employment Office spokesperson Kateřina Beránková
to deny the charges on Czech Radio. “No payments are made in cash or by cheque on
the spot or in advance," she said.
"The whole document is really just a bunch
of nonsense and lies.”
Experts have linked the growing public anger towards
the country's 300,000 Roma also to economic and political uncertainty ahead of upcoming
early elections in October.
WIDER SENTIMENTS
"The people are frustrated
with politics and with the economy and this is something they want to express," explained
Czech Sociologist Jiřina Šiklová. "But I think much of it will return to normal, for
example, after the upcoming election.”
Similar anti-Roma demonstrations were
earlier held in neighboring Slovakia, where walls were erected in several towns between
Roma and other residents.
Last week European Commissioner for Education and
Culture Androulla Vassiliou condemned authorities in the eastern Slovak city of Kosice
for constructing a wall to segregate the local Roma community. Kosice is this year's
European Capital of Culture together with the French city of Marseille.
Elsewhere,
in Hungary, far-right paramilitary groups have been marching through Roma villages
and this month four Hungarian men were found guilty and sentenced to long prison terms
for killing six Roma, including a five-year-old child.
The European Union
has urged the former Communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe to do more
to integrate their Roma minorities.