Survivors of the Roma Holocaust victims ask Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas to prevent debate on a proposal for ban on stay in certain municipalities and other similar steps, in an open letter signed by Cenek Ruzicka, chair of the Committee for the Redress of the Roma Holocaust. The letter says these are "anti-social measures" and that society would "get even more radical" in its relation to the Roma if the proposals were implemented. The proposal to ban stay in certain municipalities in reaction to misdemeanours has been made by deputy Ivana Rapkova (senior ruling Civic Democrats, ODS), former mayor of Chomutov, north Bohemia, that has a strong Roma minority. She said the fines that can now be imposed on perpetrators of misdemeanours are not sufficient and that town halls should have the opportunity to ban unadaptable inhabitants, as Roma are often referred to, from staying in a town or village for up to one year for breaching the peace and coexistence. Liana Janackova (Independents), mayor of the Marianske Hory neighbourhood of Ostrava, north Moravia, previously spoke about the introduction of the right of domicile.
The mayors of some 60 towns and villages have signed a statement demanding more powers for self-rule authorities in dealing with defaulters and unadaptable inhabitants. The statement was approved at a recent meeting of town and villages' representatives in Novy Bydzov, east Bohemia. Ruzicka wrote that the survivors of the Romani victims of Nazis and former internment camps' Romani prisoners follow "the worsening relationship of a bigger number of inhabitants as well as top politicians towards Roma" with fears. "The anti-Romani phobia afflicted mayors and other politicians" want to push through the ban on stay, says the letter. It points to similar measures taken by the first Czechoslovak Republic (1918-38) at the end of the 1920s. "Citizens, represented by their mayors, also forced lawmakers to pass a humiliating law that banned my parents and 40,000 other Roma from entering selected towns and villages," Ruzicka wrote. He wrote that the proposed changes would have a "tragic" impact on Roma and that this would tarnish the name of the Czech Republic in the EU.
Prague Monitor
