MINELRES: Prague: Activists protest closure of Sorb-language school in Saxony

[Felix Corley]

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Copyright (c) 2003 Radio Prague (Cesky Rozhlas 7 - Radio Praha)

News SEPTEMBER 5th, 2003

By: Pavla Horakova

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Activists protest against closure of Sorb-language school in Saxony
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Several dozen Czech and German activists demonstrated in Prague on
Friday in protest of the closure of a Sorb-language primary school in
the village of Chroscice in the German state of Saxony. The Saxonian
region of Lusatia is inhabited by the dwindling Slavic-speaking
minority of Sorbs. Leos Satava, the head of the Friends of Lusatia
Association, said that Chroscice is a symbol of Lusatia's problems. He
also said that assimilation of this ethnic minority still continued.
Only over 50 children entered Sorb-language schools this year. The
demonstrators used the one-day visit of the German Chancellor Gerhard
Schroeder to voice their protest and hand a petition to the German
embassy and the Office of the Czech Government in Prague.


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