Prague / Czech rep. (RNC Correspondent) 05.05.1997

A court sentenced five Roma to jail for attacking policemen, a newspaper reported Tuesday. The daily Mlada Fronta Dnes said a judge in Louny sentenced the three men and two women last summer. The town is 37 miles northwest of Prague, the capital. The polic emen were attacked when they tried to end a fight at a Roma family's part celebrating the release of a relative from jail. One policemen was injured. The Roma were calling the police "names like' white swine' and Czech swine '" the newspaper quoted Judge Petr Silhan as saying. The tens of thousands of Roma in the Czech Republic are the target of most of the country's racism. Attacks on Roma, mostly by skinheads, are relatively frequent and convictions are rare.