Live online press conference 11 AM TODAY: Czech school targeted by racists hosts fundraisers from "THEY WANT TO GAS THEM, WE WANT TO SEND THEM TO SCHOOL!"

A press conference announcing the results of the fundraising campaign by ROMEA called “THEY WANT TO GAS THEM, WE WANT TO SEND THEM TO SCHOOL!“, which immediately responded to the wave of online hatred and racism last year against first-graders at a primary school in Teplice, Czech Republic, will be broadcast live online today at 11 AM. The press conference will feature a discussion of the issues involved, the delivery of the money raised, and will take place at the school itself on Plynárenská Street.

“We will present the results of the fundraising drive, describe how the money will be used, what pilot projects the school will now be able to begin in order to support their pupils with succeeding in their studies, and what the main vision of the Romani Scholarship Program is,” said Zdeněk Ryšavý, director of ROMEA. The organizers of the collection decided to take advantage of their ongoing campaign in support of the Romani Scholarship Program, which supports Romani high school and college students, and half of the money they raised between mid-November and the end of December 2017 will be given to the Teplice school.

A total of CZK 225 000 [EUR 8 900] will be received by the principal, Marcela Prokůpková, today. She will then participate in a discussion with the initiator of this particular fundraising campaign, Ivan Gabal; Czech Public Defender of Rights Anna Šabatová; secretary of the Federation of Jewish Communities in the Czech Republic, Tomáš Kraus; musician and former Human Rights Minister Michael Kocáb; with another initiator of a successful collection to support the school, the author and entrepreneur Patrick Zandl; fundraising campaign manager Monika Mihaličková; and with the manager of the ROMEA organization’s Romani Scholarship Program, Jitka Votavová.

The fundraising campaign has also been supported by famous figures such as the sociologist Fedor Gál, the chair of the Czech Helsinki Committee, Táňa Fischerová, and film director Jan Hřebejk. You can follow the press conference and discussion live on the Facebook page of the ROMEA organization; for those who do not use Facebook, you can follow the event on Romea.cz at http://bit.ly/2Eq89Kg