Activists demand Czech mayor resign over anti-Roma comments

dpa German Press Agency
Published: Friday November 3, 2006

Prague- Czech media and Roma activists Friday demanded the resignation of the mayor of the city of Vsetin following his decision to forcefully relocate several Roma families into shipping containers. Jiri Cunek, the 47-year-old mayor of the Moravian city, argued that the Roma were not paying rent, adding that he saw himself as a "physician who removes an abscess."

Cunek even came in for harsh criticism from his own Christian Democrat (KDU-CSL) party colleagues.

Czech filmmaker Bretislav Rychlik announced he would file a complaint against the mayor, whose rhetoric reminded him of "the (Nazi) concentration camp physician (Josef) Mengele."

© 2006 dpa German Press Agency