The wall was built at the request of residents living in four private homes. They claim that Gypsy children across the street played too loudly. At an anti-wall protest in Usti nad Labem last Friday, Petr Jano, a member of the Romany Christian Union, declared that “this wall is an example of racial intolerance” and promised more demonstrations. Other leaders said they would urge fellow Roma to emigrate to Germany.
That’s bad news for the Czech Republic. After large numbers of Roma sought asylum in Canada in 1997, Ottawa imposed visa restrictions on Czechs. Britain is currently considering the same. Worse yet, the wall could hurt Prague’s chances of joining the EU. On the very day it was built, an EU report criticized the Czech Republic’s progress toward EU accession, noting the situation of the country’s 300,000 Roma was “characterized by widespread discrimination.”
Most Czech leaders, including President Vaclav Havel, have denounced the wall. The lower house of Parliament voted to rescind local authority to erect it; the issue will likely go to the Constitutional Court. Usti Mayor Ladislav Hruska remains defiant: “I see this fence as a symbol of law and order.” But to many Czechs and other Europeans it symbolizes something more ominous.
