Czech extremism report: Police recorded 17 hate attacks against Romani people last year, extremists exploit disinformation to incite hate
In 2024 the Czech Police recorded 17 crimes motivated by hatred of Romani people. That is eight fewer such incidents than the previous year.
Despite this fact, antigypsyism remains one of the key forms of prejudicial hatred in society, according to the Interior Ministry. The findings are included in the official Report on Extremism and Prejudicial Hatred reviewed and adopted by the Government at the end of May.
In addition to attacks against Jewish people and Ukrainians, Romani people in particular are the most frequent targets of hate crime, according to the report. In 2024, police recorded 159 hate crimes, 22 fewer than in 2023.
The number of people suspected of committing crimes motivated by hatred grew by 21 compared to 2023 – police recorded 119 such suspects in 2024. Of the total number of crimes, 71 were motivated by hatred of Ukrainians, 33 had an antisemitic subtext and 14 targeted the LGBT+ community.
Romani people, with 17 recorded incidents, were the third most frequent group targeted. Most of the incidents were categorized legally as either violence against a group and its individual members, or as defamation of an ethnic, national, or racial group and incitement to hatred or incitement to limiting their rights and freedoms.
Antigypsyism defined for the first time officially
The report warns of the persistent role of what is termed prejudicial hatred, which according to the Interior Ministry is also perpetrated by persons who cannot be unequivocally labeled extremist. The newly-adopted working definition of antigypsyism approved by the Government in April 2024 on the basis of recommendations from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) is based exactly on that dynamic.
According to that definition, antigypsyism is any actions or communications, whether by individuals or institutions, which lead to the marginalization of Romani people, to physical violence against them, or to their stigmatization.
Disinformation, quasi-media, and sabotage as tools of hybrid war
The ministry also recorded the continuing activity of what it calls the quasi-media scene, which according to its conclusions is significantly aiding the hostile actions of the Russian Federation against the Czech Republic. According to the report, such quasi-media outlets intentionally spread prejudices against ethnic, national, religious, and sexual minorities.
“Such communications are no longer region-specific or time-specific, but are being contextualized within a framework of global proportions as part of an irreconcilable, permanent clash between several cultural or civilizational entities defined, among other ways, by nationality or religion. Either directly or indirectly, it is frequently implied that the only proper civilizational entity that has a hope of surviving is the present-day Russian Federation,” the Interior Ministry says.
Attacks motivated by bias are very serious and frequently ignored. Have you become the victim of a bias crime in the Czech Republic? Call the free phone line of the In IUSTITIA organization, 800 922 922, or contact the ROMEA, o.p.s. organization.
According to the ministry, Czech authorities also recorded diversion operations last year, i.e., subversive activities undertaken with the aid of a foreign state power, as well as the dissemination of alarmist news aiming to partially destabilize society or disrupt the functioning of state institutions. “Examples of such activities are cases of sabotage targeting buildings or entities providing or contributing to humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine in particular. Several cases, however, aimed at targets unrelated to the war on Ukraine with the obvious intention of spreading panic and fear and of compromising or disrupting faith in domestic security services and institutions,” the ministry said.
The report says a significant precedent was set by a verdict against the editor of the news server Vlastenecké noviny [Patriotic News], who was given a suspended sentence for defaming the Romani victims of a fire in Bohumín. In addition to a two-year suspended sentence, the court fined him.
The report also points to the prejudicial motifs of some political parties’ election campaigns. It explicitly mentions the campaign by the “Freedom and Direct Democracy” (SPD) movement, which the Brno Regional Court labeled morally depraved, racist, and xenophobic.
According to the court’s opinion, the SPD campaign “crossed the line of elementary decency” and “underestimated the voters’ intelligence.”.
Children, radicalization, violence – a new security challenge
According to the Interior Ministry, the number of cases of individual juveniles and minors radicalizing without ties to any specific ideology is rising. The security units have recorded an increased number of threats of violence in schools, frequently shared in online communities.
“It is exactly the existence of these radical online communities, the incidence of explicitly violent speech, and the exhibitions of violence generally that may be the reasons for the frequent incidents associated with the threats of violence in schools. That is one reason we have created the Government’s program for prevention called Safe Childhood,” Interior Minister Vít Rakušan (Mayors and Independents – STAN) said.
Police also recorded the significant involvement of young people in violent crime. Last year a total of 1,080 children under 18 committed violent crimes.
According to police data, children committed 10 murders total last year. Police President Martin Vondrášek said this represented a significant growth in the number of such incidents, in particular regarding threats in the schools.
Chief Prosecutor Lenka Bradáčová called the criminality of children and juveniles a priority when she recently took office. Overall, the report states that the extreme left and extreme right as traditionally understood have lost mobilization potential and that their activity in 2024 was marginal.
Such groups did not hold any more pronounced public events and the activity of the anti-system movement gradually weakened last year. Despite that fact, security threats persist related to the hybrid operations of foreign state powers, the spreading of false alarms, diversion operations, and sabotage.
A serious case, for instance, was last year’s attempt to set buses belonging to the Prague Transit Authority on fire. As for statistics on crimes with a racial subtext, a total of 63 persons were convicted of such crimes in 2024.
Such crimes constitute 0.14 % of all crimes for which persons were convicted with final effect last year. Compared to 2023, this was an increase of 13 perpetrators.
