Neo-Nazis to hold revenge demonstration in Prague

Participants urged to arrive dressed in black, preferably with wreaths, candles, flowers and black flags in mourning for "freedom of speech."

By JTA, JPOST.COM STAFF
Neo-Nazis say they will hold a revenge demonstration in Prague. Czech right-wing extremists announced that they will hold a Nov. 17 rally after police prevented a neo-Nazi march from taking place in Prague's Jewish quarter last Saturday in keeping with a court ban. The new demonstration is scheduled for Palackeho namesti square, the Prague "Hyde Park," according to the Web site of the Autonomous Nationalists. Participants are urged on the site to arrive dressed in black, preferably with wreaths, candles, flowers and black flags in mourning for "freedom of speech." The Nov. 12 counter-demonstration, including thousands of non-Jewish Czechs, which was at times violent, marked the first time in recent memory that residents of a former Eastern bloc capital took to the streets in large numbers to demonstrate against anti-Semitism. At least 250 people were arrested in outbreaks of violence around the capital. Two neo-Nazis lay in a thick pool of blood after being kicked and beaten by a group of German anarchists. A masked spokesman for the anti-Fascist movement said his group had assaulted at least 12 other neo-Nazis in the city center. Police also seized weapons, including a gas gun, axes and sticks at scattered sites as the extremists tried to reach the Jewish quarter, police spokesman Ladislav Bernasek said. At least six people, including one policeman, suffered head injuries, said Prague rescue service spokeswoman Jirina Ernestova. The march had been scheduled to take place just a day after the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the 1938 night of terror when the Nazis attacked synagogues and Jewish homes and businesses throughout Germany and parts of Austria.