Bulgaria:
Focus: Bulgaria President to meet with nationalist Ataka party leadership. ‘Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev is to meet Monday, October 15, with the leadership of the far-right nationalist Ataka party at 9:30 a.m., the press centre of the president’s office announced.’
Novinite: Bulgarian far-right wants country to exit NATO. ‘Bulgaria’s marginal far-right Ataka (Attack) party wants the upcoming referendum in the fate of the Belene Nuclear Power Plant project to include a question on whether the country should leave NATO.’
Czech Republic:
The Prague Post: Prague embraces Roma culture at pride event. ‘Oct. 7 saw the clouds part for the first-ever Roma Pride parade in the Czech Republic. As part of a Europe-wide initiative, Prague joined 14 other European Union countries to highlight the identity of the Roma minority. Konexe, an NGO well known for supporting the Roma population, was responsible for organizing the capital’s march.’
Greece:
International Business Times: Greece: Minister Supplied neo-Nazi Golden Dawn with Immigrant Children Data. ‘Outrage has flared in Greece following reports that the Interior Ministry asked local municipalities to provide data about the number of immigrant children in public nurseries, apparently in response to a request from a neo-Nazi Golden Dawn MP. Earlier this month, MP Ilias Panayiotaros demanded in parliament that interior minister Euripides Stylianidis produce exact figures regarding the number of immigrant children in kindergartens across the country, listed by county of origin.’
Canadian Jewish News: Greek neo-Nazi party rises as economy sinks. ‘Tens of thousands of Greek protesters welcomed German Chancellor Angela Merkel to their country Oct. 9 with Nazi uniforms, Hitler salutes and swastika flags, lamenting her new austerity measures amid their floundering economy. While protesters’ gestures were symbolic, the real threat Nazi ideology poses to Greece comes from within.’
Greek Reporter: Golden Dawn targets immigrant children. ‘Greece’s Interior Ministry has denied that a list it compiled of the nationalities of nursery school children was designed to provide information to the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party which wants all immigrant children expelled from the schools.’
Hungary:
Politics.hu: Roma groups to stage anti-Jobbik counter-demonstration in Eastern Hungary. ‘Roma groups are preparing to stage the biggest demonstration of recent times in Miskolc on October 17, Aladár Horváth, head of the Civil Rights Movement for the Republic, announced at a press conference on Friday. The rally is meant as a counter-demonstration against a Jobbik gathering planned for the city’s Avas housing estate on the same day.’
Russia:
RT: Russian school bans 5 Muslim girls from classes for wearing hijab. ‘A head teacher of a school in Russia’s North Caucasus region banned five Muslim girls from attending classes while wearing a hijab. Indignant parents filed suits at a local prosecutor’s office over the issue. The scandal erupted a week ago at a school in the village of Kara-Tyube in Russia’s Stavropol region. Several Muslim girls of different ages were told they would not be allowed to enter the school unless they took off their hijabs.’
RFE/RL: Top Dagestani Investigator Survives Attack. ‘Authorities in Russia’s North Caucasus republic of Daghestan said that the republic’s top investigator has survived an apparent assassination attempt. An unknown attacker on October 14 fired on the vehicle of Major Nurlan Ashurbekov, who was injured in one arm. Ashurbekov has been involved in a number of investigations, including the assassination in August of Daghestan’s leading Muslim Sufi cleric, Said Afandi Atsayev.’
