News server Romea.cz. Everything about Roma in one place

News server Romea.cz. Everything about Roma in one place

Czech Republic: City of Brno says ultra-right march on 1 May can only use one route

22 October 2012
2 minute read

Extremists who were originally planning to march along two routes through a socially excluded locality of Brno have accepted City Hall’s suggestion that they only use one. “City Hall negotiators secured agreement to the changes,” registrar Pavel Loutocký said today. Loutocký said officials tried to negotiate even greater adjustments to the route, but the conveners refused.

The march will start in Koliště Park between the City of Brno’s Art House (Dům umění) and the Zemanova Café (Zemanova kavárna). The ultra-right radicals will march down Cejl street and return to the park along Merhautova and Milady Horákové streets. Their original plan had also been to march down Cejl and return along Francouzská street, both symbols of the so-called “Bronx” neighborhood of Brno. “It would be ideal if they were to march on Milady Horákové and Merhautova streets only, but we did not manage to persuade them,” Loutocký said.

The registrar stressed that if the demonstrators commit anything illegal, such as displaying banned symbols, it will be his responsibility to stop the demonstration. The Workers’ Youth has officially convened the event as a celebration of Labor Day. However, the the Brno City Council’s National Minority Committee says all indications are that it will actually serve as a gathering of nationalists from around Central Europe.

The event is being held “Against the Invasion of Foreign Workers and the Exodus of Our People”. Police President Petr Lessy previously stated that security measures will be massive and that police will not tolerate any law-breaking. Not only is the march route a potential problem from a security point of view, but another security challenge is the fact that opponents of the ultra-right radicals have come together as the “We Don’t Want Neo-Nazis in Brno” Initiative to hold a counter-event in the city. Police will have to prevent clashes. The counter-event is to take place at the corner of Bratislavská and Hvězdová streets, as well as at the Museum of Roma Culture – which places it in the very center of the locality the extremists will be marching around.

The Workers’ Youth is connected to the Workers’ Social Justice Party (Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti – DSSS). The Supreme Administrative Court dissolved the DSSS predecessor, the Workers’ Party (Dělnická strana -DS), because of its radical approach. Brno has seen two 1 May marches by ultra-right radicals in the past four years, both of which involved conflicts.

Help us share the news about Romas
Trending now icon