Vsetin mayor evicts Romany familiesPrague, Nov 2 (CTK) - Jiri Cunek, mayor of Vsetin, South Moravia, and senator for the Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL), has continued the town's practice of evicting Romanies (Gypsies), this time moving them to the neighboring villages of Cechy pod Kosirem and Drevnovice, Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) reported Thursday.
The town had earlier evicted almost 100 Romanies to the Jesenik region. This time, the town has moved two families with 26 members in total, MfD writes. The evicted Romanies are complaining about being pressured, while Olomouc deputy regional governor Jitka Chalankova (KDU-CSL) considers the move an unacceptable deportation.
Roman Tulej currently lives with 10 family members in a small, two-room house. The house's former owner sold it to the Vsetin town hall for CZK 320,000. The Tulej family will repay Vsetin CZK 460,000 for the house, with the profit to be divided between the real estate office and the mediator, MfD writes.
The Tulejs say the house is damp and dilapidated. "They scared us with the claim that we would end up in the street and that our children will be moved to a children's home," Tulej's wife Jolana told the paper.
In Vsetin, both families lived in a house which was to be torn down. The town hall did not extend their lease contract, but the families did not want to move out. They were given a lessee's note of termination of lease.
Mayors of both villages described the removal was brutal.
"I am shaken. This type of removal is like deportation. It is unacceptable that the steps are taken by Cunek, who is a Christian Democrats senator and candidate for the chairman of the party," Chalankova said.
