Czech President says he would be sorry if functioning local community were replaced through "strong economic interest" in his second statement of support for those facing eviction
“Last year’s visit to the former mining colony of Bedřiška confirmed to me that even a locality with a heavy history can be transformed into safe homes. That makes me regret all the more that the evictions of the local people responsible for that transformation are underway,” Czech President Petr Pavel posted to X about the current situation in Bedřiška after meeting with Mayor of Ostrava Jan Dohnal and local councilors on Monday, 26 May.
Instead of the planned revitalization approved by the City of Ostrava assembly in September 2020, which counted on preserving the housing of local residents, Bedřiška is braving a third wave of evictions. In May 2024, Mayor of the Mariánské Hory a Hulváky Municipal Department Patrik Hujdus informed the residents of the change.
The municipal department wants tenants with fixed-term leases to gradually move away, some by September, others within the next five years, roughly. The management of the municipal department points out that what are called the “Finnish” houses there are now beyond their useful life, that the costs of their repair would be high, and that they are counting on new construction in the area in the future.
“I fully respect the decision of the municipal department. However, I would consider it incorrect to stop the local residents’ many years of efforts in this way. I would be sorry if a functioning, viable community that sets an example for other excluded localities and for all of us, in many respects, were to be replaced through a strong economic interest. This is exactly why Eva and I have opened up the subject of Bedřiška during the discussion that we had today with the mayor and councilors of Ostrava. I believe the city will manage to find a more sensitive way forward, building on the good that has happened in Bedřiška. Their story deserves to continue,” the President said.
Over the years, the infamous ghetto that the Bedřiška settlement became in the 1990s, when the leadership of the Mariánské Hory a Hulváky Municipal Department moved exclusively problematic residents into it, has transformed into a place of peaceful coexistence for non-Romani and Romani families with a functioning, strong community. Since 2010, a civic association has been operating there that takes care of consulting for the residents, development of the neighborhood, leisure events, and organizing other activities.
In recent years, Bedřiška has been considered a positive example of civic initiative and solidarity, and not just in the Czech Republic. “The leadership of the Mariánské Hory and Hulváky Municipal Department has already carried out harsh social and racial segregation in Bedřiška once before, between 1997 and 2010, displacing the original residents, former miners and their descendants. Today, gentrification is happening in Bedřiška again with a much more sinister intention – all of the residents are to be displaced, and this in a situation where neither those of you in city government nor those of you in our municipal department have any concrete idea of when and how this locality will be dealt with,” Eva Lehotská, a spokesperson for the Bedřiška residents, told the May 2025 city council meeting.
Lehotská also recalled the rising number of socially excluded localities in Ostrava. “By your decision to relocate us, you will be taking something away not just from us, but also from other people in similar situations, and that is the belief that it makes sense to strive to improve their living conditions. Is a dog hotel, or a solar energy field, or a sports hall, or a training ground for the integrated rescue services really of greater value to you than a functioning, open community which is determined to participate in the further development of this location?” she asked, referring to possible development plans.
