Anti-gay activists attack Czech homosexuals

At least 20 persons were hit by tear gas used by anti-gay activists about 20 minutes after the end of Czech homosexuals’ march at the namesti Svobody square and the Masarykova street in Brno today.

The police and neo-Nazis clashed after the end of the homosexuals’ Queer Parade, the first of its type in the Czech Republic.

The chaos lasted about 45 minutes and the tension largely subsided after 16:00.

The police have detained 15 protesters against the march. Breach of the peace charges have been brought against two of them.

Tear gas was found with one of the detained men, but the police did not find the perpetrator of the tear gas attack, spokeswoman Denisa Kapitancikova said.

Paramedics treated a group of seven to ten people.

"A paramedic from the South Moravian police treated their eyes," Brno police spokeswoman Andrea Prochazkova told CTK.

The city police said one city police who collapsed and had to be hospitalised.

In adjacent streets, the police chased neo-Nazi activists. One of their groups pelted a group of about five Romanies with tomatoes.

Clashes between opponents of the gay march and homosexual activists started even before it started as the former threw crackers in the crowd. The police detained three persons.

The march did not start at the planned 14:00 and organisers were considering cancelling it for fear of clashes. The march eventually did take place, but on a shorter route.

The march lasted about 20 minutes and there was no violence. The crowd included about 500 persons with hundreds of onlookers in the city streets.

It ended at 15:00 when homosexuals released rainbow balloons at the namesti Svobody square.