"Czech Lions" experience yet another debacle - march in Přerov cancelled for lack of interest
Approximately 40 neo-Nazis gathered today for an anti-Romani assembly convened by right-wing extremists from the "Czech Lions" (Čeští lvi) organization on T. G. Masaryk Square in the town of Přerov. The organizer cancelled the planned march 40 minutes into the gathering because of low turnout.
This is yet another debacle for the neo-Nazis. Last week even the organizer of their event in České Budějovice didn’t make it.
Elsewhere in Přerov, on František Rasch Square, another assembly against neo-Nazism was attended by roughly 100 people, 80 of them local Romani residents. At around 16:00, police spokesperson Michaela Sedláčková told the Czech News Agency that public order had not been disrupted and that there had been no illegal behavior.
Police did not confiscate any weapons. "The whole security operation is taking place calmly without any police intervention," Sedláčková said.
Police called hundreds of officers in to work today, including riot units, traffic patrols, detectives, an anti-conflict team, mounted police and a helicopter to monitor the assembly in Přerov. Officers had anticipated that as many as 300 people might attend the right-wing radicals’ event and as many as 200 might counter-protest it. "We don’t have a crystal ball, we can’t underestimate these situations," Sedláčková said.
Just after 14:00, those participating in the "Protest against neo-Nazism and for nonviolent coexistence", which was convened by a citizen of Přerov, gathered on František Rasch Square. Karel Holomek, chair of the Society of Roma in Moravia (Společenství Romů na Moravě) and town councilor Helena Netopilová (SpP) joined them.
"We don’t want people to back down in the face of evil. It’s like any other aggressor. Unless we say ‘enough’, it won’t stop. We aren’t interested in conflict. We want to draw attention to the fact that this is not the way forward," Netopilová told news server Deník.cz, adding that she did not like the fact that the neo-Nazi assembly was being tolerated by local government.
The right-wing extremists had planned to march roughly two kilometers through the town today. The route for their march was supposed to lead past Romani localities, and organizers had originally planned to march directly through the center of the minority community on Kojetínská and Škodova Streets, but road repairs frustrated those aspirations.
The neo-Nazis were supposed to gather at around 15:00. Pavel Matějný gave a speech to the few who did show up on the square in which he promoted a newly-emerging political party founded by defectors from the right-wing extremist Workers’ Social Justice Party (Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti – DSSS).
Right-wing extremists most recently marched through Přerov carrying banners on 1 May this year. Around 300 demonstrators came to the town and that event also took place without problems.
In 2011, 200 ultra-right demonstrators came to Přerov, a far cry from the turnout in 2009, when roughly 700 people participated. That event ended in a street battle with police.
