CZECH-TEPLICE/ARAB TOURISTS Volunteers try to heal relations with Arab guests in Czech spa town

Record ID: 142931

  • Title: CZECH-TEPLICE/ARAB TOURISTS Volunteers try to heal relations with Arab guests in Czech spa town
  • Date: 21st August 2015
  • Summary: TEPLICE, CZECH REPUBLIC (AUGUST 20, 2015) (REUTERS) SPA BUILDING VARIOUS OF WOMEN DRESSED IN NIQABS SITTING IN PARK GROUP OF ARAB SPA GUESTS WALKING THROUGH PARK GROUP OF CZECH DOG OWNERS ENTERING PARK WOMEN IN NIQABS SITTING ON BENCH IN PARK ARAB GIRL JUMPING UP ON BENCH WHEN PEOPLE WITH DOGS WALK PAST (SOUNDBITE) (Czech) DOG BREEDER, DANA MADEROVA, SAYING: "I see here the following problem: either the spa guests will teach themselves how to behave, or they will completely devastate our Teplice. We took the dogs with us on purpose, because this is our national particularity - we say: 'every Czech is a dog keeper'." MADEROVA AND OTHERS WALKING DOGS IN PARK BLACK DOG (SOUNDBITE) (Czech) TEPLICE CITIZEN, PETR PEROUTKA, SAYING "When I go for holidays, for example to Egypt, I can be freer in the resort. When I go outside the resort, I have to respect their culture, I can't do whatever I want there. I don't know why the can do whatever they wish here and we should respect them?" MADEROVA AND OTHERS WITH THEIR DOGS EXTERIOR OF TEPLICE TOWN HALL VARIOUS OF TEPLICE DEPUTY MAYOR, HYNEK HANZA, WRITING ON COMPUTER TEPLICE TOWN SIGN (SOUNDBITE) (Czech) TEPLICE MAYOR DEPUTY HYNEK HANZA SAYING: "Now we have a good experience with the information leaflets which we started last year. Now we are preparing a wider brochure because when the foreigners are well informed, then they are able to keep the public order, be quiet during the night and so on." LEAFLET WRITTEN IN ARABIC ARAB GUESTS LEAVING SPA BUILDING (SOUNDBITE) (Czech) TEPLICE MUSLIM COMMUNITY LEADER, MAREI ABBAS, SAYING: "The culture is different, right, but you can keep the order in some way when we inform more about Islam and Arabs. Also, people themselves have possibility to study the Arabic style of life, about their culture, why women are shrouded. The information published in the media is not enough." CZECH ARAB COMMUNITY VOLUNTEERS HOLDING BAGS READING: "I HEART TEPLICE" ENTERING PARK TO PICK UP RUBBISH AFTER SPA GUESTS VARIOUS OF VOLUNTEERS PICKING UP RUBBISH WITH SOME OF THE GUESTS VOLUNTEERS LEAVING PARK (SOUNDBITE) (Czech) VOLUNTEER, DR. MOHAMMED GHALEB, SAYING: "The dog is part of the family in the Czech Republic and so we wrote in the leaflet what it means - like when you hurt the dog it is like when you hurt someone in the family. They didn't know that. So we inform them this way." SHOP OWNER PLACING ARABIC LANGUAGE INFORMATION LEAFLETS ONTO SHOP WINDOW (SOUNDBITE) (Czech) VOLUNTEER AND DAUGHTER OF DR. GHALEB, IMMAN GHALEB, SAYING: "The main effect which our effort has is that the people note this and that they speak about it during their picnics. When they see us, they know who we are and what our aim is." VOLUNTEERS PLACING RUBBISH INTO THE BASKET (SOUNDBITE) (Czech) TEPLICE CITIZEN, LENKA SIMACKOVA, SAYING: "They have started -- with various actions like this -- they have started to clean the rubbish after themselves here or they are at least trying to. I think that even the town hall has started to care about this problem a bit more." VOLUNTEERS PICKING UP RUBBISH ARAB WOMEN IN PARK ARAB BOYS HOLDING INFORMATION LEAFLET
  • Embargoed: 5th September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Czech Republic
  • Country: Czech Republic
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVABFNHLOBLIGA5A3Y3C6I3FCQ56
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: A Czech spa town is trying to heal rifts between Arab guests and the local community after misunderstandings on dogs, noise complaints and a failed burqa ban soured relations.
    Arab clients, primarily from Kuwait, have been coming to the north Bohemian spa town of Teplice since the early nineties. The spa, famous for its hot springs, specialises in neurologic disease and human locomotor (muscolosceletal) system.
    Thousands of Arabs patients come to live in the town for several weeks or months during the season, often with family members in tow.
    But in recent years, tensions have risen between perceived differences between the cultures and style of living of locals and the spa guests from the Gulf states -- with particular complaints about rubbish left in the park, noise at night and a lack of respect for a Czech's best friend: the dog.
    Locals say that they are insulted by the adverse reactions they have experience when walking their pets.
    "I see here the following problem: either the spa guests will teach themselves how to behave, or they will completely devastate our Teplice. We took the dogs with us on purpose, because this is our national particularity - we say: 'every Czech is a dog keeper'," dog breeder Dana Maderova said.
    "When I go for holidays, for example to Egypt, I can be freer in the resort. When I go outside the resort, I have to respect their culture, I can't do whatever I want there. I don't know why the can do whatever they wish here and we should respect them?" another dog owner irked by reactions, Petr Peroutka, said.
    The Teplice town hall embroiled itself in the situation last year, issuing a decree banning people from covering their faces by burka and niqab in public to respect "European rules" -- but this was not allowed by Czech Interior Ministry.
    "Now we have a good experience with the information leaflets which we started last year. Now we are preparing a wider brochure because when the foreigners are well informed, then they are able to keep the public order, be quiet during the night and so on," deputy mayor Hynek Hanza said.
    But for Teplice's Muslim community leader, Marei Abbas, the information campaign should go both ways.
    "The culture is different, right, but you can keep the order in some way when we inform more about Islam and Arabs. Also, people themselves have possibility to study the Arabic style of life, about their culture, why women are shrouded. The information published in the media is not enough," Abbas said.
    Relations were particularly strained after fireworks were let off in the central Sanovsky park for the end of Ramadan.
    Volunteers from the local Islamic community -- mostly doctors and spa workers -- took it upon themselves to try to heal the tensions created after the event by cleaning the park. In order to inform the Arab spa guests about what they are doing and why, the volunteers wear hi-vis jackets with bags emblazoned with "I heart Teplice", as well as distributing Arabic language leaflets -- including about the importance of canine pets for locals.
    "The dog is part of the family in the Czech Republic and so we wrote in the leaflet what it means - like when you hurt the dog it is like when you hurt someone in the family. They didn't know that. So we inform them this way," one volunteer, Mohammed Ghaleb said.
    The leaflets are also stuck into the shop windows of the Arabic markets. Ghaleb's daughter, Imman, said that she believes they are getting their message across.
    "The main effect which our effort has is that the people note this and that they speak about it during their picnics. When they see us, they know who we are and what our aim is," she said.
    Their effort is appreciated by other long-term Teplice citizens.
    "They have started -- with various actions like this -- they have started to clean the rubbish after themselves here or they are at least trying to. I think that even the town hall has started to care about this problem a bit more," resident Lenka Simackova said.
    But for Teplice town hall, the amount of rubbish still building up in the park despite regular cleaning and the volunteers has reached an unacceptable stage, so they plan to introduce a spa fee of about 15 Crowns (EUR 0,60) per person a day to cover the increased costs for cleaning the city.
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