Lety: Government agrees to allocate 1 million crowns
18-05-1999
Radio Prague, May 18th - On Monday, government spokesman, Libor Roucek, announced during a press
conference that the Czech government has decided to allocate 1 million crowns
to the Czech town of Pisek which is to be responsible for better access to a
former concentration camp site at Lety. Dita Asiedu reports:
During WWII, Lety was the site of a concentration camp where Romas were
held before they were sent to extermination camps. Today, instead of a beautiful
memorial that pays respects to all those who suffered and died at the site, you
will find a pig farm. Outraged by the bad road conditions, the lack of road signs,
and of course mainly the presence of the pig farm, the Roma National Congress
(the RNC) launched an international protest which called for the relocation of
the farm as well as better access to the site. But with the growing state budget
deficit, the Czech government, notes that it cannot carry out the RNCs demands
as it lacks the 300 million crowns necessary. RNC spokesman, Ondrej Gina,
who believes that the government has let down the Roma community by failing
to make the Lety affair a priority, asked Roma and non-Roma citizens to stop
pork consumption as it could come from the Lety pig-farm.
This may have had an effect on the Cabinet as during its meeting, on Monday,
the Czech government decided to allocate 1 million crowns to the town of Pisek,
close to Lety, where its town office will be responsible for the reconstruction of
field and forest roads that lead to the site, the placement of proper road signs and
the establishment of information boards at Lety which will have orientation
plans and will be in several languages.
But many wonder whether this contribution will suffice to appease the Roma
community for the time being. The Czech Republic has been facing criticism
from the West, claiming that it lacks social and political support for its minority
groups, a conclusion deduced from the fact that a large number of Romas has
emigrated to mainly Canada and Britain.
On this note, it seems like Britain is reconsidering its imposition of visa
requirements to Czech citizens due to the continuing increase of the influx of
Roma from the Czech Republic. According to the daily Pravo, Interior
Minister, Vaclav Grulich, confirmed that the British Ambassador to Prague
warned him that Britain may impose a visa requirement to the Czech Republic if
the number of Romas asking for asylum in Britain, continues to rise. The
government in return, sees this as a problem as it cannot control Roma
emigration since it does not have the right to ask travellers what intentions they
have outside the country.
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