Czech Republic: Neo-Nazis provoke Romani families in Duchcov at night after protests are over

News server Romea.cz is investigating reports that neo-Nazis provoked Romani residents of Duchcov during the night of Saturday, 24 August, setting off fireworks near Romani-occupied buildings. Altercations reportedly also occurred.

During Saturday’s anti-Roma assembly in Duchcov, police arrested one man for failing to obey their instructions. Daniel Vítek, spokesperson for the police, informed the Czech News Agency on Sunday, 25 August that the man’s behavior was eventually qualified as misdemeanor disruption of public order. 

Organizers claimed 700 people attended the event, while police estimated the number of participants at between 250 – 300. The assembly and subsequent march took place without any clashes between demonstrators and police.

"This time it was calmer. I don’t know of any damage caused," Mayor Jitka Bártová told the Czech News Agency.

Bártová said it is hard to tell whether the situation in the town will gradually calm down. "It depends whom you ask, everyone sees it differently," she said.

The mayor said legislative changes to facilitate the resolution of long-term problems is the main thing that will help. "It should be more advantageous to work than to draw welfare," the mayor said.

The conveners of the event in Duchcov joined Saturday’s statewide protests, which were convened in various places around the Czech Republic by the neo-Nazi movement Free Resistance (Svobodný odpor) against "black racism, the welfare system, and the disproportionate interventions by police riot units". During the course of the assembly and march there were 500 police officers deployed in the town and monitoring the situation by helicopter. Police confiscated one metal bar, a wooden baton and two wooden stakes from vehicles driving into the town prior to the event.