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Internet platform for studying Xenophobia, Radicalism and Problems of Intercultural communication.

Attacks

Attacks The gypsies of the city of Andrychow were compelled to resort to self-defense in order to resist the nationalists.

According to the OSCE, 284 hate crimes were recorded in the Czech Republic in 2011; in 2012 – 289; in 2013 - 43. At the same time, according to non-governmental organizations, the number of hate crimes in 2013 was 211. Roma were victims in 58 cases in 2013, among whom there was one dead (in 2012, 47 cases and 5 deaths). There was a case of physical and moral persecution of the Jewish pupil of the school in Přelouč.

Human rights defenders were able to make contact with the 58 victims of such crimes. In 22 cases, the crimes were committed on the basis of hostility towards the Roma, in two cases the attack was against Czechs, six times the criminals choose their victims based on their religion, and the remaining 4 were against the homeless. Statistics show that more often it was a physical assault (15 cases). Cases of blackmail, intimidation or harassment via the Internet were also common. On the facts of these crimes prosecutions were made. In 86 cases, they were associated with participation in the activities of the extreme right.

In early July 2014, director of In IUSTITIA Charity Klara Kalibova published the results of a study “Hate violence and the Roma”. According to her, 32% of Czech Roma have faced hate speech and violence. Two thirds of victims never reported these crimes.

At the same time, in 2014, 32 crimes motivated by xenophobia were reported in 2014, and 20 in 2015, which is explained by the serious measures taken that year by the authorities.

During the migration crisis in the Czech Republic, attacks on migrants became more frequent. According to Marek Canek from the Multicultural Center in Prague, it is primarily about refugees from Syria. He emphasizes that it is not radical people who are behind the attacks, but ordinary Czechs who think they can offend someone who looks different. “This is a reflection of the rhetoric of the media and politicians who say that Islam is a threat,” said Chanek. This idea is confirmed by the political scientist Milan Znoy, who teaches at the Charles University in Prague. “Only a few civic initiatives, a minority of journalists and intellectuals and a minimum of politicians spoke out against this wave of anti-Muslim hatred,” he said. Most politicians used xenophobia and hatred for their political purposes.

In 2018, the Czech police recorded 36 anti-Gypsy-motivated crimes, nine more than in 2017, and 15 anti-Semitic crimes, 12 fewer than in 2017. At the same time, these figures are significantly less than those reported by non-governmental organizations. For example, in 2018, the Federation of Jewish Communities of the Czech Republic registered 347 anti-Semitic incidents. Such incidents, mostly violent, are not always reported by their victims, so the actual number of anti-Semitic attacks may actually be higher.

At the turn of the 20s. In the 21st century, hate crimes against Roma and minorities continued to be a problem. From 2016 to 2020 Czech police recorded 216 hate crimes. Most of them were directed against Roma, Jews, Muslims and people of color, primarily migrants. Nearly half of all crimes were assaults. For example, in 2021, a Czech NGO reported that a man physically attacked a Romani teenager for having a verbal altercation with a teenage girl. The man slapped the boy, told him he couldn't talk to a white girl like that, and damaged the boy's hearing aid.

If crimes motivated by anti-Semitism in 2016-17 were quite common and competed with attacks on Roma, then in 2018-20. we see from a significant drop. However, in 2020, these crimes again took the lead according to official data. The Ministry of the Interior recorded 27 criminal offenses related to anti-Semitism in 2020. The Federation of Jewish Communities reported 874 anti-Semitic incidents in 2020, of which 98 percent were online hate speech.

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