Czech local councillor in Prague uses derogatory term for Vietnamese people at official meeting
In the Municipal Department of Prague 11, opposition members of the local council made an attempt to recall the Councillor for Transportation, Libor Vrkoč (Movement for Prague 11 - HPP11), but their agenda item was not approved. One of the reasons for his attempted dismissal is that he made racist remarks about the Vietnamese community at the March meeting of the Land Development Committee.
The objections to Vrkoč have been raised by opposition politicians from Prague 11 and by the Czech-Vietnamese Society, which aids Vietnamese people living in the Czech Republic. Councillors from the local governing coalition have repeatedly failed to support adding a vote on his dismissal to the agenda.
In addition to his dismissal, the local opposition TOP 09/STAN club said it wants a public apology from Vrkoč. “He even imitated the way they speak Czech – I admonished him, but unfortunately he showed no self-reflection. The club of TOP 09/STAN considers the statements by Councillor Vrkoč unacceptable,” said local councillor Tereza Dolanská (TOP 09), the only person to speak up at the meeting against his using a derogatory term for the Vietnamese.
“So the Vietnamese. I am calling them by the right name, though,” responded Vrkoč, according to the recording of the meeting.
The ANO movement is also calling for Vrkoč to be dismissed and for him to publicly apologize. “To call the local Vietnamese minority ‘rákosníky‘ [reed people] is not just absolutely inappropriate, but also clearly demonstrates Councillor Vrkoč’s inclination toward extremism, which is absolutely unacceptable for our councillors, and that goes double for an elected representative in a leadership role of a municipal department,” chair of the local ANO club Ondřej Prokop said.
Councillors from the local governing coalition mostly abstained from voting on including the agenda item of dismissal, even during a second vote to adopt such a program. The point did not get enough support to be included.
Prokop told the Czech News Agency (ČTK) that according to his information, representatives of the Vietnamese community planned to attend the meeting in the afternoon and that the ANO movement would then attempt to make a procedural motion to initiate a vote on dismissing Vrkoč once more. Councillor Martin Sedeke (Civic Democratic Party – ODS) also spoke against Vrkoč, saying that his dismissal is also necessary because when he was elected as councillor to fill a vacancy he was also allegedly an official at Prague City Hall, so by law his election should not have been allowed without consent and he is thus in a potential conflict of interest.
Sedeke is investigating how Prague City Hall is handling the situation through a request under the Freedom of Information Act. Councillor Jakub Lepš (TOP 09) also objected to Vrkoč’s statements, saying that Vrkoč is also a member of the association from which Prague 11 is about to take over a sports field, which he says requires costly investments.
According to Lepš, this is also a potential conflict of interest involving former Mayor of Prague 11 Jiří Štyler (HPP11). Vrkoč did eventually apologize for his remarks during the council meeting.
“My remarks were actually unfortunate and decidedly not a display of racism. I apologize for my inappropriate remarks toward inhabitants of Vietnamese nationality,” he said.
