Far-right National Party establishes paramilitary unit

Several tens of supporters of the Czech far-right National Party (NS) attended a Prague meeting today marking the anniversary of the birth of Czechoslovakia in 1918, at which NS leaders delivered speeches and founded the National Guard as a paramilitary organised group.

"It is a paramilitary group to serve not only for our meetings’ purpose, but also for disasters," NS chairwoman Petra Edelmannova said, adding that the guard members will also help tackle disasters such as floods.

Participants in the meeting were holding Czech flags and some also carried posters criticising the planned Czech anti-discrimination law and promoting the extension of the nuclear power plant Temelin, south Bohemia.

In their speeches NS leaders voiced their adherence to the legacy of the ancestors who fought for national independence. They criticised the community of immigrants and the European Union.

"We don’t want us to be operated from Brussels," said NS’s Jan Skacel.

He also warned that "Sudeten Germans’ demands are starting to arise again."

Another speaker, Pavel Sedlacek, said that "migrants have flooded the whole Europe," have stolen jobs from Czechs, are intolerant and uneducated.

At the close of the meeting, NS leaders laid a wreath at the statue of St Wenceslas, saint patron of Bohemia, and the Czech anthem was sung.