Czech police accuse extremist of hooliganism over clash

The Czech police have accused one of the four persons detained during a clash with rightist extremists on Saturday of breach of the peace, police spokeswoman Ludmila Svetlakova told CTK today.

The man threw a cobble stone and severely injured a policeman in the face. The policeman has been released from hospital into home care, she added.

The action by rightist radicals in Litvinov and the local neighbourhood of Janov, inhabited mostly by Romanies, ended with two injured persons. The other is one of the radicals.

The action was not announced and therefore not authorised.

Some 300 young radicals and supporters of the Workers' Party, the Autonomous Nationalists and the National Resistance groupings arrived in Litvinov.

Some 150 Romanies equipped with sticks were waiting for them at Janov.

The police used a water cannon against the radicals who attacked them with glass bottles and stones.

The radicals also tried to attack several journalists.

Some 300 police took part in the event. Mounted police and several tens of riot police were preventing the clash.

The action, convoked by the Workers' Party, was to be a reaction to alleged attacks by Romanies against members of "protection corps" of the extreme rightist party who arrived in October in Janov to monitor the local situation.