Czech Republic: DSSS chair ignores court verdict, demonstrates in Havířov

On Friday, 28 October, approximately 30 people attended a banned gathering of right-wing extremists in the Šumbark neighborhood of the Czech town of Havířov. A representative of the Havířov town hall called upon the chair of the right-wing extremist Workers’ Social Justice Party (Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti -DSSS), Tomáš Vandas, to end the rally. After roughly 20 minutes, he did so.

Police did not intervene. Police spokesperson Zlatuše Viačková told the Czech Press Agency that police officers would be monitoring the situation in the town to prevent any potential conflicts.

The right-wing radicals justified Friday’s assembly by saying they wanted to discuss the migration of so-called “inadaptable” residents into the town with locals. The town hall banned the rally out of concern for people’s physical safety; its decision was upheld by the Regional Court in Ostrava. The extremists came to town nonetheless.

After Vandas started addressing the rally, Leona Večeřová of the town hall’s internal affairs department called on him to disperse the assembly. “We’re continuing, send us the fine. I’ll pay it,” Vandas said. In his view, the event was not an “assembly”, but a petition drive. Večeřová then directly addressed those assembled and repeated the call to disperse. The DSSS chair ignored her challenge and spoke for several minutes more. He then ended the rally and said he would remain there in case any of the participants wanted to discuss anything with him. Several people, mostly locals, remained to speak with him.

Residents of the Prostřední Suchá and Šumbark neighborhoods in Havířov have reportedly been complaining of disorder, excessive noise, increased crime, and physical and verbal skirmishes. They are mainly labeling Romani residents as responsible for the incidents.

According to police statistics, crime in the town has truly risen and the town hall has prepared a series of measures to improve the situation. Mayor Zdeněk Osmanczyk (Czech Social Democrats – ČSSD) has promised to reinforce police patrols in troubled localities and to establish police stations there.

Havířov residents are also concerned about rumors that the RPG Byty company, which manages a large number of apartment buildings in the town, will be moving troublemakers into its properties. The company has repeatedly repudiated that claim.

Just like in North Bohemia’s Šluknov district, right-wing extremists are exploiting this situation in North Moravia. In North Bohemia a similarly tense situation was brought to a head by an incident during which five Romani men allegedly attacked the guests of a gaming room in Nový Bor (Česká Lípa district) with machetes. A series of demonstrations and protest marches against Romani people then took place in the area, some of which escalated into attempted pogroms. Police forces are monitoring the situation there.

Friday’s DSSS provocation continued in the city of Ostrava. Approximately 150 people convened on Masaryk Square there at 14:00 for yet another DSSS rally. When the rally was over, right-wing extremists commemorated the foundation of the Czechoslovak Republic at the monument to the 1917 Battle of Zborov. Police spokesperson Gabriela Holčáková told the Czech Press Agency that police noted no disturbances of order during the event.

Participants in the Ostrava rally listened to speeches for more than an hour on the square. The right-wing extremists then marched about 500 meters to the Hus Orchard, where they lay wreaths at the monument to the Battle of Zborov. During World War One, Zborov was the place where Czechoslovak Legionnaires made their first significant contribution to the battle on the Eastern Front.