Skinhead Attacks

One commentator, Petr Placak, wrote Friday in the daily Lidove Noviny: "The tension in the Romany community (which is the most frequent though not the only victim of skinhead attacks) is evidently mounting. It is only a question of time when emotions develop into a real explosion of violence."

While successive governments have made efforts to improve the lot of Czech Romanies and to ease racial tension, a vocal minority openly attacks the Gypsies.

A member of Parliament from the extreme-right Republican Party said he would introduce a law "making Gypsies illegal." Nothing came of his words, but the Republicans hold 18 seats in Parliament's 200-member lower house, and polls show they could win 12 percent of the vote in parliamentary elections in June.

That worries Romanies who say they often feel like second-class citizens in their own homeland.

A January poll showed that nearly one in three Czechs were against living in the same community as Romanies, and 14 percent of Czechs wanted them expelled from the country. Yet the poll also showed that two-thirds of Czechs had no strong opinions about Romanies.

Spurred by its spokesman, Vladimir Mlynar, the new Czech government has begun to help integrate Romanies into mainstream society and has formed a Romany-led commission to look for ways to improve their lot.

The Czechs' treatment of Romanies is also being examined by the European Union, which the Czechs hope to join early next century.

But Romany leaders say that the white majority has to accept that Romanies are Czech and to clearly condemn racism.

deserve zasloužit si

her only crime was jejím jediným zločinem bylo

beat tlouci, bít

kicked kopali

unconscious v bezvědomí

dived in vrhla se do vody

to grab popadla

to snap přetrhnout se, prasknout

to rescue zachránit

attackers were arrested útočníci byli zatčeni

nylon bombers nylonové bundy

lace-up boots težký boty až nahoru zavázaný

subhuman podlidé

for the first time poprvé

to strike back pomstít se

racially motivated attacks rasově motivované útoky

Romanies Romové

according to podle (čeho)

firebombed útočit zápalnými bombami

assault útok, napadení

dark-skinned tmavé pleti

depressed neutěšený

tension napětí

court cases soudní kauza

has taken its toll vybralo si svoji daň

to ask for asylum požádat o azyl

refused odmítli

estimated odhadovaný

explosion of violence výbuch násilí

introduce a law předložit zákon

feel like second-class citizens cítí jako občané druhé kategorie

poll volby, hlasování

expelled from vyhoštěni z

government has begun to help to integrate Romanies vláda začala pomáhat při integraci Romů

into mainstream society do hlavního proudu společnosti

the white majority has to accept that Romanies are Czech bílá většina musí uznat, že Romové jsou Češi

to condemn racism odsoudit rasismus

1. What happened on the night of 17th February in Vrchlabí?

2. Was there anybody who was trying to help? How did it end?

3. How would you describe a typical skinhead and in what organizations are they grouped?