Men who attacked former Czech PM were among the neo-Nazis on 17 November

Martin Hofman and Martin Kuferský, two of the four men who attacked ODS party chair and former Czech PM Mirek Topolánek in August, were part of a boat ride in Prague on 17 November organized by neo-Nazis from the “Resist!” initiative. Police had to intervene against the 100 neo-Nazis after they disembarked near the Výtoň tram stop.

Some of the same people who work for the “Resist!” initiative are connected to National Resistance. The founder of the initiative is Jiří Bárta, who is the chair of the local Workers’ Party organization in Vlašim and ran on their ticket the 2008 regional elections. The initiative holds demonstrations demanding the release of neo-Nazis in custody as a result of the recent police roundup, called operation “Power”.

Neo-Nazis planned a total of three events for Tuesday, 17 November. At 13:30 supporters of the “Resist!” initiative boarded a boat heading for the city center; at 14:00 Workers’ Party sympathizers met on Národní třída; and at 16:00 a National Resistance demonstration was meant to take place. However, the neo-Nazis did not manage the situation organizationally and never succeeded in joining their forces into a single large crowd. Police separated the groups from one another and intervened against them near the Výtoň tram stop. According to photographs available to Romea.cz, Kuferský was one of the neo-Nazis who resisted the police there.

Former Czech PM Topolánek was attacked on 21 August while leaving a swimming pool in Hustopečíce. Hofman and Kuferský said they were offered a total deposit of CZK 50 000 to attack him and payments of CZK 40 000 afterward. Whether the men actually received the deposit is not known and the money has never been found. The assailants said the attack was ordered by someone unknown to them, but were unable to tell the police anything further. Police officers have been unable to discover who ordered the attack on Topolánek, but did rule out the possibility that it was someone in his own party.

According to Antifa.cz, Kuferský was very active during the 1990s. “He participated in the attack by a large group of Nazi skinheads on the Branická žízeň punk festival in 1991. In March 1992 he also figured in an attempt to attack the anarchist demonstration on the anniversary of the Nazi German occupation of Czechoslovakia,” Antifa.cz reports.

Hofman and Kuferský worked security at the funeral of the murdered entrepreneur Václav Kočka, Jr for the VIP Service agency, owned by Zdeněk Zahradník. However, both the Kočka family and Zahradník deny having hired their services.