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Senator Tomio Okamura has encouraged his followers to insult Muslims. On his Facebook page, the leader of the Dawn party said Czechs should walk pigs in the vicinity of mosques. The populist Czech-Japanese politician – whose party have 14 seats in the Chamber of Deputies – said Czechs should protect their democratic way of life and the heritage of their forefathers from Islam. Mr. Okamura also called on his supporters to boycott Muslim owned businesses, saying that “every kebab purchased was another step towards burqas”.

At the weekend, the interior minister mooted a plan for the Czech Republic to accept up to 10,000 Syrian refugees fleeing the civil war in their country. Most consider helping refugees a moral responsibility, but the country says it has neither the capacity nor the finances necessary. Instead, the Czech Republic made clear it would prefer to help on the ground or by continuing to provide material aid.

This Friday, Czech military intelligence released its annual report, finding (along with the civilian counter-intelligence service BIS earlier) that there were an exceptionally high number of Chinese spies operating on Czech soil, as well as Russian agents. Military intelligence also reported that the terrorist organisation al Qaeda was continuing to spread its ideology via social networks and sites on the internet.

Al Qaeda radicals are striving to spread their ideology to Muslims in the Czech Republic, the Czech Military Intelligence Service says in its annual report. According to the report, released on Friday, this is happening largely through internet sites and social networks. Such activities are dangerous in that they increase the chance of lone wolf terrorist attacks that are hard to prevent, the Military Intelligence says.

The Military Intelligence also monitored the activities of Chinese companies in view of the threat of technological espionage in the defense sector. The civilian counter intelligence service BIS likewise this week warned of what it called an “exceptionally high” number of Russian and Chinese spies operating on Czech territory.

Priest and theologian Tomáš Halík has described statements about Islam made by President Miloš Zeman as stupid and populist. Speaking on Rádio Impuls on Monday, he said the two gravest threats today were Russian aggression and Islamic State militants. He said the latter had been condemned by Islamic authorities, which was something Mr. Zeman had failed to take into consideration. The president has been criticised in the past for his statements about Muslims, including saying that “Islamic ideology” was behind an attack on the Jewish Museum in Brussels. The recipient of last year’s Templeton Prize, Tomáš Halík has himself been spoken about as a possible future candidate for head of state.

A project aimed at presenting the history and culture of Islam to Czech students in view of building a multicultural, tolerant society has hit the rocks. The Czech Education Ministry announced on Thursday it was withdrawing its support for the project after receiving numerous complaints from parents.

The country’s Muslim community has not applied for enhanced rights almost ten years after it registered in the country. September 17 will mark the tenth anniversary, the Czech News Agency writes. Under Czech law, enhanced status would entitle the community to teach Islam in public schools, establish Islamic schools, provide religious services in the army and in prisons while Muslim marriages would also be officially recognized. However, the Muslim community has failed to meet several conditions for the rights to be granted, reportedly neglecting, for example, to publish annual reports over the 10-year-period. The Culture Ministry, its spokeswoman made clear on Thursday, would reject the application under such circumstances.

Over 10,000 people have signed a petition calling on the Czech authorities not to award enhanced rights to the country’s Muslim community, the news website echo24.cz reported on Thursday. On September 17, the Muslim community will have been registered in the country for ten years; under Czech law, this would entitle the community to establish Islamic schools, teach Islam at public schools, and provide religious services in the army and in prisons. Muslim marriages would also be officially recognized. However, the Muslim community fails to meet some other conditions to be granted these rights, as only around 3.350 people declared themselves Muslims in the latest population census. The law meanwhile requires that 1 per-mille of the total population, or some 10,400 people, be members of a religious group to be received enhanced rights.

Education Minister Marcel Chládek has said he sees nothing wrong with Muslim girls wearing the hijab in class, although he would stop short of allowing a fully covered-face which might be seen as problematic for security reasons. He said the ministry was not going to issue any recommendation in the matter for the time being and it would be up to individual schools to decide what they would or would not allow. The comment comes in the midst of a heated public debate on whether students should be allowed to wear religious symbols in the classroom.

Czech Ombudswoman Anna Šabatová has stirred heated debate on the Czech political scene by standing up for two students who were banned from wearing headscarves at a medical school in Prague. Politicians across the political spectrum as well as President Miloš Zeman have criticized her move, arguing that foreigners should respect Czech cultural traditions.