PM pays visit to north Bohemia

After weeks of unrest in north Bohemia, Prime Minister Petr Nečas (Civic Democrats) has paid a visit to the troubled region, and the Cabinet will discuss the continuing racial and social conflict Sept. 21.

Nečas toured the region Sept. 19 as tensions between the minority Roma and white population remain high. The prime minister had faced major criticism from local mayors for not visiting the region personally after several major clashes between demonstrators and police.

"The demonstrations here are not connected with whether I have visited," Nečas said speaking in Rumburk. "A number of them have been called and supported by extremist organizations that are abusing the situation."

Indeed, extreme-right wing parties have attempted to capitalize on tensions, but with several hundred people regularly appearing at demonstrations in fairly small towns, there are indications the anger is more widespread. The general disorder has prompted the deployment of a special riot police unit.  

Two assaults on whites by members of the Roma minority were the flashpoint for protests in the towns of Varnsdorf, Nový Bor, Šluknov and Rumburk as recently as Sept. 17. But roots of the problem run much deeper, as real estate profiteers have sought to take advantage of state social housing subsidies, spurring an influx of largely unemployed Roma in recent months.

Rising crime rates and already tense economic conditions have added fuel to the fire and exposed long-running social tensions that stem from decades of failed policies targeting Roma integration.

Labor and Social Affairs Minister Jaromír Drábek (TOP 09) announced the ministry would finance 100 public sector jobs in the region, adding he was "prepared to increase that number."

The Cabinet will reportedly address the root causes of tensions for the first time Sept. 21, when it discusses the "Strategy for the Fight against Social Exclusion 2011-15," a policy document some two years late for its original deadline.

Those delays were caused by, among other things, Nečas' decisions to disband the Human Rights and Minority Ministry and to keep a successor post of human rights commissioner vacant for five months.

Benjamin Cunningham can be reached at
bcunningham@praguepost.com