Czech extremism report for the second half of 2023: Romani influencers contributed to radicalizing the Romani community against Ukrainians, Roma are most often the victims of hate crime
The Czech extremist scene continues to be dominated by what are called "anti-system movements", the representatives of which do not respect the Czech state, admire the Russian regime, and traffic in untrue or misleading information and conspiracy theories. A new occurrence on the scene was disputes between some members of the Romani and Ukrainian communities over both actual incidents and the fictional ones which some purveyors of disinformation are exploiting through social media.
Those are some of the findings from the Interior Ministry’s report on extremism for the second half of 2023. According to the report, the police recorded 181 crimes motivated by hate last year and prosecuted 98 people, most often for committing violence against a particular group.
Romani people (25 individuals) predominated among the victims of hateful attacks.
New element on the extremist scene: Disagreements between Roma and Ukrainians
According to the report, the purveyors of disinformation endeavored to exacerbate the situation between Roma and Ukrainians, intentionally presenting themselves for that purpose as defenders of the rights of Romani people. “On the other hand several so-called ‘live broadcasters’ in the radicalized segment of the Romani community contributed to this as well,” the Interior Ministry reports, adding that these individuals are Romani influencers who present their opinions through live broadcasts on social media.
“Some figures in the Romani community, on the other hand, did their best to dial down the tensions,” the Interior Ministry report states. The authors noted more negative speech toward Ukrainians in the second half of last year.
“[Ukrainians] were accused of having a high crime rate, of ingratitude to Czech citizens, of sympathy with (neo)Nazism, or the security situation in their homeland was belittled,” the ministry said. Russia launched its full-fledged invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and the two countries have been at war ever since.
Hate speech of the traditional sort against migrants and Muslims also continued during the second half of the year. The report also noted that “The online space is overwhelmed by various antisemitic conspiracy theories with increasing frequency. Various fabrications about Jews working behind the scenes with secret plans to control the world or western civilization are being accepted from abroad.”
After Hamas perpetrated a terrorist attack in Israel on 7 October, the Czech Police launched criminal proceedings against several cases of antisemitic speech. The authors of the report also said the Czech security forces have not noted any information indicating that the domestic community of Muslims has been radicalizing.
Anti-system movements continue to dominate the extremist scene
As in the first half of the year, anti-system movements absolutely overshadowed the extremist and populist-xenophobic scene as traditionally organized in the Czech Republic. “The Czech neo-Nazi movement did not make any public appearances. The older veterans of the movement just attended private events,” the ministry reported.
Representatives of the antisystem movements publicized themselves through various public assemblies and activities on social media. Their activity was especially reported on by the Czech media outlets which purvey disinformation.
“The unifying element of this movement is criticism, lack of respect or lack of recognition for Czech state institutions, as well as adoration of the current regime in the Russian Federation,” the Interior Ministry’s extremism report states. However, the ministry says anti-system movement figures are not offering a concrete political program but are just presenting conspiracy theories and misinformation.
Some of those figures commit crimes or publish threats. The most significant case was that of Tomáš Čermák, who was convicted of several crimes including supporting and promoting terrorism.
Čermák did not report to prison and was subsequently arrested by police in Poland. “Within the framework of the anti-system movement he was then presented as a hero and a martyr and a financial collection was organized for him,” the Interior Ministry said.
Police and prosecutors also concentrated on the scandal of those who rioted in a courtroom during the trial of ex-journalist Jana Peterková. “The palette of pro-Kremlin speech among the adherents of the anti-system movement is a broad one,” the authors of the report state.
Admiration of the regime in Russia, copying a pro-Russian stance on the war against Ukraine, or presenting the symbols of the Wagner Group are all part of such speech. Anti-system movement representatives also frequently speak against Ukraine and Ukrainians.
Police recorded 181 hate crimes
Last year police officers recorded 181 hate crimes and prosecuted 98 people, most frequently for committing violence against a particular group and its individual members. According to the report, police charged 23 people with that offense.
Prosecutions against 19 people were launched for defamation of an ethnic, national, racial or other group of persons, and the same number was launched for incitement to hate a nationality or race. Persons who committed intentional bodily harm or made dangerous threats were also among those charged.
The most frequent crime reported by police was incitement to hate a nationality or race. Romani people (25 of them) predominated among hate crime victims.
There were 18 Jewish hate crime victims and 13 who were members of the LGBT+ community. The most crimes with a hateful subtext recorded by police happened in Prague.
There were 92 such crimes recorded in the capital. The next-highest number was reported from the Ústecký Region, with 22 such crimes.
The highest number of prosecutions of such crimes was also in the capital, followed by the Moravian-Silesian and Plzeň Regions.
