Massive protests expected against neo-Nazis in Brno on 1 May, city wants rally site changed

This week representatives of Brno City Hall will attempt to reach an agreement with those who have convened a 1 May march through the city on a change to the starting point for their rally. City registrar Pavel Loutocký says Koliště Park, where the event is to start and where the ultra-right radicals are expected to make speeches, is not the most appropriate place from a security point of view and has told the Czech Press Agency that he will try to get the conveners to change their meeting place. The route along which the extremists are scheduled to march leads through the so-called “Bronx” of Brno, a neighborhood full of Roma people and socially excluded residents, and would not be changed. Massive protests by respectable people against the neo-Nazis are being organized.

Loutocký repeated that he is prepared to disperse the neo-Nazi rally if any illegal symbols are displayed by the participants or if anyone incites racial intolerance. Several observers will be on hand to keep an eye out for objectionable material. “There will be interpreters on hand because several foreigners, English and German people, have announced they will attend,” the registrar said. During the event Loutocký will rely on the perspective of witnesses who are experts on the issue of extremism.

Those convening the march have said the “cultural-political part of the program in Koliště Park” will be key to the event. Loutocký said City Hall would be provided with advance copies of the speeches to be given there and experts would evaluate their content in advance. “However, in real time the participants can always say something else. What will be important will be evaluating the situation live,” the registrar said.

March organizers are counting on the risk of their demonstration being dispersed. On their website, in the section on instructions for demonstrators, they have banned the wearing of military clothing, including steel-toed boots, the drinking of alcohol, and are also not recommending smoking. “Do not wear any illegal symbols on your clothing or anywhere else. Do not bring any objects to the gathering that could be considered weapons,” the website reads.

The event is being held “Against the Invasion of Foreign Workers and the Exodus of Our People” (“Proti invazi cizích pracovníků a exodu našich lidí”) and city representatives say there is no doubt the march is being organized by neo-Nazis. City councilors adopted a resolution labeling the demonstration a hate action targeting members of national minorities living in Brno. They believe the organizers’ intent is to “incite conflicts, fear and tensions.”

The most recent neo-Nazi marches this year through the towns of Nový Bydžov and Krupka and the brutal police interventions committed there against those opposing the neo-Nazis have resulted in the activation of many respectable people who are now preparing massive protests in Brno against the neo-Nazi march on 1 May, including a nonviolent blockade. The “We Don’t Want Neo-Nazis in Brno” Initiative (Iniciativa V Brně neonacisty nechceme) is planning a symbolic protest action and cultural program at the Museum of Roma Culture on the corner of Bratislavská and Hvězdová streets. The action and program will take place inside the building. Extremists are expected to march past it per their agreed-upon route. The Jewish Community of Brno has supported the Initiative. “Who else if not us should support it?” the Initiative quotes their chair Pavel Fried as saying.

A second initiative, BRNO BLOCKS (BRNO BLOKUJE) is preparing to blockade the march directly on Cejl street. Organizers have announced their plans on the website http://brnoblokuje.cz. The website advises those interested in participating that they should try to get to the blockade point even if it means crossing police barriers and that if officers attempt to push them away from the gathering point they should sit on the ground and link arms. The website rejects the view that those who participate in this unannounced gathering might be committing a crime. “Those participating in this blockade of the neo-Nazi march are preventing the commission of the crime of promoting and supporting a movement aimed at suppressing human rights and freedoms,” the initiative argues.

Many leading celebrities and personalities of Czech social life have supported this blockade of the neo-Nazi march, including actors, businesspeople, and clergy, as well as ordinary people. Just like in Nový Bydžov or Krupka, there is the risk that police might brutally intervene against these nonviolent resisters of neo-Nazism.

An ecumenical religious service is also planned for 1 May in Brno and is being prepared by volunteers from several churches in the city. “As Christians we are disturbed by the growing activities of neo-Nazis and we have therefore decided to gather for an ecumenical religious service to overcome the violence of neo-Nazism. The aim of the service is to stand up against violence through the power of prayer, to show our rejection of extremism, and to carry on the Decade to Overcome Violence announced in 2001 by the World Council of Churches,” the website of those organizing the services reads. The service begin at 12:30 CET on Malinovské Sqaure (Malinovského náměstí), which is not on the neo-Nazi march route.

Other opponents of neo-Nazism are preparing a theatrical “happening”. “Dear Friends, someone is daring to destroy the beauty of the budding Spring! On 1 May the sympathizers of neo-Nazism will march through Brno. The Nazis are like scarecrows – their numbers multiply when they succeed in hectoring others and decline when no one makes a fuss over them. Come join a group of clowns, comedians, conjurers, nuts, jugglers and thespians for a street theater happening that expresses just how sick the stupidity of some of our fellow human beings makes us,” their invitation on Facebook reads.

Extremist marches have been held every other year in Brno for the past four years. The greatest clashes occurred in 2007, when the neo-Nazis failed to respect the town’s decision to disperse the march. Demonstrators defended themselves against police by throwing stones and using their plastic flagpoles as weapons. They succeeded in pushing police forces back several times and their resistance was not broken until riot units and water cannon were used. After the event, four ultra-right radicals were sentenced to prison and another three received suspended sentences for promoting Nazism.