Representatives of the Czech town of Vsetín have decided not to approve the conclusion of an out-of-court settlement with the former Romani tenants of a building that used to stand in the town center, but want the matter to be decided by a court. Vsetín evicted the Romani tenants from the centrally-located, dilapidated building in the year 2006.

The courts have been dealing with the case since 2008. An out-of-court settlement was recently rejected by the local council.

In 2006 the town hall bought old houses in the Jeseníky district and coerced some of the evicted Romani families into assuming 20-year loans from the town in order to purchase them. Another 40 Romani families were relocated to the periphery and housed in apartment units made from metal shipping containers.

The evicted families who were relocated to the Jeseníky and Prostějov districts were coerced into buying half-collapsed houses in remote villages. Three families were relocated into such old houses in the villages of Stará Červená Voda, Vidnava and Vlčice.

Link: http://www.romea.cz/en/news/czech/czech-town-refuses-to-settle-out-of-court-with-roma-whom-they-forcibly-relocated-13-years-ago

Hoaxes, unfortunately, return to the Czech Internet on a cyclical basis, and one example is a current hoax alleging that the town of Jablonec nad Nisou, in association with the public transportation companies in Jablonec nad Nisou and Liberec, has supposedly introduced a new type of public transportation ticket just for Romani commuters from the Zelené Údolí area. Despite this hoax being very old, it is making the rounds on social media again and sparking agitation.

A social worker from Jablonec nad Nisou proposed that safe transportation to school during the winter months should be provided to children from the socially excluded locality in Zelené Údolí, which is 1.5 kilometers away from the town center and predominantly inhabited by Romani people.

Local children walk to school along a busy category 1 road that has no sidewalk and is almost impassable during the winter. The only opportunity for them to safely commute, therefore, is to take the tram.

The idea to support the children living in Zelené Údolí with their commute to school was approved by the board of the transport company 2011 a pilot project to the parents of these children that were solely valid for use on the tram into the center of town and back. Instead of paying EUR 44 for the three-month passes, residents of Zelené Údolí paid just EUR 10.

Link: http://www.romea.cz/en/news/czech/antigypsyist-hoax-returns-to-czech-internet-alleging-that-roma-get-free-public-transportation