Czech and German neo-Nazis march with flaming torches through Karlovy Vary
According to information from the Czech Police, about 100 neo-Nazis from the Czech Republic and Germany came to Karlovy Vary on Saturday for an assembly which organizers claimed was intended to honor the victims of bombardment during WWII. About 50 anti-Fascists protested against their march through the town.
Police kept both camps strictly separated. German right-wing radicals invited their followers to the spa town in the Czech Republic after canceling their own demonstration scheduled for last Thursday in Dresden.
About three busloads of marchers came to the event from Germany. They brought banners and flags promoting the German "Third Way" party and torches which they set alight and held as they marched through almost the entire spa zone.
"About 100 neo-Nazis are marching with flaming torches through the town to the sound of Nazi drums," a correspondent with news server Romea.cz reported directly from the scene at around 5:30 PM. Speeches were made at the colonnade reminding participants of the victims of the Allied bombardment in 1945, which included some residents of Karlovy Vary.
Prior to the march beginning, Karlovy Vary town councilor Jiří Kotek (ALTERNATIVA) attempted to stop the right-wing radicals, urging police to disperse the march because he believed it clearly promoted Fascism. Kotek was not successful.
When the march was over, locals from both groups dispersed. The Germans waited in the center of town for their buses to arrive, and Czech police vehicles accompanied them back to the border.
Today's event had been properly announced to the town hall by a private individual. According to the announcement the march was not organized by any organization or party, was scheduled to last from 16:30 to 20:00, and was supposed to start at the post office on T. G. Masaryk and go past the Hotel Thermal to the colonnade.
German news server bnr.de, which monitors the actions of German neo-Nazis, warned last week that the participants from Germany would be coming to Karlovy Vary by bus. Neo-Nazis have gathered annually in the Saxon metropolis on the anniversary of the bombing of Dresden, but in recent years their demonstrations there have been blocked by left-wing activists and local residents.
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