Dawn party MP distances himself from party leader’s anti-Muslim views

Lower house deputy for the Dawn party, Milan Šarapaka has distanced himself from the anti-Muslim statements made by party leader, Senator Tomio Okamura. On his Facebook page the senator encouraged his followers to insult Muslims, suggesting they walk pigs in the vicinity of mosques and boycott Muslim-owned businesses in order to protect their democratic way of life. Deputy Šarapatka, a former diplomat, said he had repeatedly tried to temper the senator’s radical foreign policy views without success and was no longer willing to take part in setting the party’s foreign policy line. He will however remain a member of the party’s deputies group in the lower house. The Dawn party has 14 seats in the Chamber of Deputies. Its leader, Czech-Japanese politician Tomio Okamura, is known for making controversial statements with regard to foreigners and the Romany minority.