Bratislava, 17. 10. 2005, 12:54 (CTK) Slovakia will take part in the European Week against racism in soccer which wants to protest against the demonstrations of racism and intolerance at soccer stadiums, representatives of the Slovak Soccer Association and the People Against Racism organisation said today. "Soccer is of course only a mirror of the society and we cannot expect than any activities in soccer will do away with racism as such," said Daniel Milo, head of the People Against Racism. Slovakia will take part in the European Week against racism in soccer which wants to protest against the demonstrations of racism and intolerance at soccer stadiums, representatives of the Slovak Soccer Association and the People Against Racism organisation said today. "Soccer is of course only a mirror of the society and we cannot expect than any activities in soccer will do away with racism as such," said Daniel Milo, head of the People Against Racism. "Yet soccer may be a means that breaks the imaginary borders between people of different races, ethnicities, cultures," Milo added. Slovak first-league footballers will publicly present a symbolic red card with the inscription A Red Card for Racism before every match. The first occasion will be the Champions League match in which Artmedia Bratislava plays in Scotland against Glasgow Rangers. The anti-discrimination campaign, organised by the Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE), will last until October 25. Racism frequent in reality show Bratislava, 14. 10. 2005, 18:08 (CTK) Sex is no longer the only dark spot on the Slovak VyVoleny (the Chosen Ones) reality show, broadcast by Joj television station, as the vocabulary of the chosen ones includes many racist statements such as "small nigger" or "yid," the group People against Racism said today. In the days to come, the television licence council will deal with the situation. The Joj commercial television station today rebuked the Chosen Ones in a letter, but it also says that it is a show from the real life. "The things (racist statements) are said in anger, metaphorically. We believe that they were not meant in a racist context. But we still think that such statements should not be uttered by the intelligent people who compete for eleven million," Joj spokesman Ludovit Toth said. The television management today gave a letter to the participants in the show in which it highlights this aspect. "The situation is very serious, so think about your conduct," Toth quoted from the letter. Besides, the contestants were punished - they have to bake omelettes, but cannot eat them. Daniel Mil from the People against Racism said that the police had to assess whether the Chosen Ones' statements had crossed the limit beyond which punishment should be meted out. "The presentation of such views in the most watched air time, in a programme watched by the broad public, can become a dangerous precedent when it comes to the media picture of the issues connected with ethnic minorities and racism," Milo said. "It is an undesirable model for viewers," Milo said. The licence council will deal with the reality show in about two weeks. The head of the council's office Andrej Holak said that the office had already received one complaint pointing to the defamation of race. "In general, it falls under the protection of human dignity and humanity. In the sense of the law, the programmes must not advocate violence and incite to hatred in any form," Holak said, adding that if the legislation is violated, there can be fine of 20,000 to two million crowns. Joj has not yet been fined for VyVoleni. "We will be careful," Joj's spokesman said, adding that it could not be ruled out that when the programme is prepared, the undesirable statements will be replaced with beeps. Warning of influx of Slovak Romanies confirmed Prague, 5. 10. 2005, 00:31 (CTK) Hundreds of Slovak Romanies are heading for the Czech Republic attracted by the country's generous social security network, the daily Hospodarske noviny writes today. Romanies from east Slovakia, impoverished as a result of social reform, will start leaving for the Czech Republic and abusing its social system, the paper says. The Czech Interior Ministry's warning from the beginning of 2003 is becoming true. This is proved by an analysis made for the ministry by the International Society for Migration (IOM) which is to be discussed by the government in the next few weeks. The report says that the number of asylum seekers from East Slovakia again grew in August and September and it cannot be ruled out that the two-year record level of migration will be exceeded this year. The report author Roman Kristof points out that apart from hundreds of asylum seekers thousands of Slovak Romanies settle in the Czech Republic, looking for jobs there. "We estimate the number of these people being three or even five times higher than the number of asylum seekers. With the Czech Republic and Slovakia's entry to the European Union last May their determination to stay in the Czech Republic has grown," Kristof says. University lecturer Alexandr Musinka from Presov, east Slovakia, adds that other tens of thousands of Slovak Romanies are leaving for the Czech Republic for seasonal work in construction and in the forest industry. For instance, I know about 300 Romanies from Bardejov alone who go to work in the Czech Republic," Musinka sais. However, the ministerial report points out that following suit of Ukrainians who illegally work in the Czech Republic, Romanies are creating the patron-client system which allows to exploit workers. "This can be the beginning of a long-term trend if the situation in the Czech Republic and Slovakia does not change," Tomas Urubek from the Labour Ministry migration department says, commenting on the analysis findings. Romanies leave Slovakia mainly because they have lost their last incomes as a consequence of social reform of Minister Ludovit Kanik. "Romanies use their family ties while arriving in the Czech Republic, they are able to find work here and they are gradually discovering the advantages of a more generous social system," Urubek says. The authors of the study analysed the situation at Mlada Boleslav which attracts Slovak Romanies due to job offer from the Skoda car maker and other companies and proved that the Czech social system is opened not only to Slovak Romanies, but also for all European Union citizens. If Romanies want to register in the Czech Republic for temporary stay they are asked by the foreigner police to sign an affidavit that they will not ask for social security benefits. "However, this affidavit is a mere piece of paper," the report says. Large Romany families easily find access to security benefits. In all, 60 families of Romanies from Slovakia receive state support in Mlada Boleslav and two families receive allowances for poor families from the town. However, only ten families are not from East Slovakia (primarily from Kosice, Trebisov and Michalovce). The report points out that although only Romanies who found jobs have asked for social security benefits in Mlada Boleslav, even this situation is a serious warning since the difference between the Slovak and Czech security benefits has increased as a result of Kanik's reform. This means that one and the same family is entitled in Slovakia for receiving a mere one-third of the sum compared to the Czech Republic. The Czech Republic is becoming a country of destination for Slovak Romanies and they represent a heavy burden for its social system, the IOM report says. Limiting the amount of Czech social security benefits is the key to resolving the situation, Urubek said. "However, it is Slovak authorities that should seek to halt the migration. It is not the best assessment for a EU country when its homeless are asking for asylum in another country," he says. ======================================== People let in hotel house in Bohumin on police order Bohumin, North Moravia, 5. 10. 2005, 00:31 (CTK) About 20 people whom the Bohumin municipal officials tried to prevent from entering a local hotel house, including deputy citizens' rights protector Anna Sabatova, were finally let in on the police order late last night. According to the police, the municipality probably acted unlawfully when it refused to let in NGOs representatives and other people who wanted to meet the house's inhabitants. The visitors wanted to see the hotel house that the town wants to reconstruct, at the invitation of the few families, including Romany ones, who still live in the house. The security guards however prevented them from entering the house which the town explained saying that the building is in a state of dilapidation and that the health of the people could be threatened. The guards did not let in deputy ombudsman Sabatova either. They only enabled entry to MP and government human rights commissioner Svatopluk Karasek and another two people who had a special permit from the municipality. Martin Wastl, deputy district police head, told journalists later on Tuesday that the police decided to open the house on the basis of a criminal complaint lodged by Kumar Vishwanathan, who has been working with Romanies in north Moravia for many years and who was one of the invited visitors. The visitors could thus meet the house residents inside. "I'm very satisfied that the law finally prevailed," said Sabatova. Karasek said this was for the first time in his life that the police fulfilled their duty. "I'm almost moved over it," he said. Bohumin Mayor Petr Vicha (Social Democrats, CSSD) said he and North Moravian police deputy head Jiri Pscolka will discuss the situation on Wednesday. He said he can see only two possibilities for the town - either to withdraw the security guards and be no longer responsible for the developments in the house, or to agree with the police that the house is in the state of dilapidation and thus dangerous for people to enter or stay in. =================================== Police clamp down on skinhead party VLASIM/KUTNA HORA, Central Bohemia, 2. 10. 2005, 16:34 (CTK) Roughly 35 skinheads met in a restaurant on Saturday night under the pretext of celebrating the birth of a child to one of them, the local police spokeswoman told CTK today. Eighty-eight police patrolled the event. During the night, they detained a number of the skinheads and one girl was charged with attack on a public official, the spokeswoman said. There was no music at the celebration. However, one of the organisers wore a T-shirt with the name of a rock group advocating fascism. This is why he was taken by the police to the local police station. When the rest of the skinheads found that he was absent, they started insulting the police. This provoked an action by the police who took some of them to the police station. One of the girls disliked the treatment and attacked the police, the spokeswoman said. The police have been largely passive at neo-Nazis parties and rallies, for which they have come under criticism. This happened at a recent concert of skinhead bands in Krtetice, South Bohemia. The police did not intervene, although, as human rights activists say, the participants in the concert called the name of Rudolf Hess and one could hear the Nazi salute Sieg Heil in the room. The police first said that they had not made any mistake, but police chief Vladislav Husak later decided to punish two senior police in charge of the action. The police passivity was criticised by the Czech Council for Nazi Victims and the Federation of Jewish Communities. Mother Tells Tribunal: My Children Terrorised Essex, 30. 9. 2005, 19:00 (USTIBEN) A mother described at a tribunal (30 Sept) how her home was bulldozed and her children terrorised because people in a picturesque English village didn't want Gypsies as neighbours. Margaret McCann, aged 33, who is bringing up three children on her own, told how her brother had paid $30,000 for a plot of land so that she could start a secure life in the village of Little Waltham, Essex. Three times planning applications had been sent in to Chelmsford borough council. But each time chief planning officer Christine Lyons had found a technical fault in forms submitted and rejected them, said her representative Dr Donald Kenrick. It was not until six months after evicting Mrs McCann and 20 other familiess that the council even considered their planning permit cases. "We were following government advice when we bought that land," Mrs McCann told planning appeals inspector Mark Beard at Chelmsford Civic Centre. "My property ended getting smashed and looted by the bailiffs, my children terrorised by the riot police." She said the bailiffs hired by Chelmsford to bulldoze Meadowlands, Gypsy removal specialists Constant & Co., had burned everything on the mobile-home park and, she alleged, stolen many things. A new quadbike, generator and refrigerator of hers had all gone missing. The tribunal heard that unlike many others this was not a case of Travellers trying to settle in a designated Greenbelt area. The field they purchased at Cranham Road, Little Waltham, was common agricultural ground. Since the eviction in 2004 in which a mobile-home and two other caravans were burned, Meadowlands has been severely damaged, according Grattan Puxon, author and veteran Roma rights activist. The owner of the mobile-home, Kathy Buckland, was currently suing Chelmsford for damages. "Pig slurry has been pumped onto the land to render it uninhabitable," he told the inspector. "The entrance has been illegally blocked with concrete cylinders and a four-metre earth bank erected around the entire perimeter, without the owners' consent or planning permission." In response to these allegations Mrs Lyons, an anti-Gypsy enforcement officer for the past l6 years, did not deny that topsoil had been destroyed and that the field was now constantly flooded. She said the council put up the banks to keep the owners out - but intended to removed them within the next few months. PROTEST ACTION After the hearing, Mrs McCann and her children led a protest outside the Civic Centre, holding Stop Evictions posters and raising a large flag, logo of the EU-sponsored European Roma and Travellers Forum. Standing among a crowd of Essex students who joined the demonstration, she said she would continue her campaign for the right to live on her own land. Puxon said the Meadowlands eviction, one of the most brutal in recent years, showed that private companies, such as Constant & Co., habitually ignore safety regulations and endanger the lives of children and elderly people while demolishing mobile-home parks. In the past two years, hundreds of privately-owned yards have been bulldozed, he said. It was in his opinion a case of local council using, or rather abusing, planning regulations as a smokescreen for wholesale ethnic-cleansing. Another thousand properties were in-line for bulldozing, including over 150 homes at the virtual village known as Dale Farm, built by Travellers at Crays Hill, Essex. Basildon council has voted to spend $5 million to raise the village and force families out of the district. Mrs McCann's appeal will now be forwarded to Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, with a recommendation from the inspector. But even an unlikely recommendation to grant her a permit may not help. Last week Mr Prescott ignored such advice in the case of an appeal by four families in the London borough of Bromley, who face immediate eviction along with their 31 children.