No incident during Czech far-right patrol's march through Janov

No incidents occurred during today’s march of the ultra-right Workers’ Party’s (DS) "patrol" through Janov, Litvinov’s housing estate with a number of unadaptable inhabitants, mainly Romanies, which the DS staged because of the town hall’s alleged neglect of local problems.

Protesting against the DS’s allegation, Litvinov Mayor Milan Stovicek said the town hall had taken big efforts to improve the situation in Janov.

Both state and municipal police are stationed in Janov to secure safety and order, Stovicek pointed out.

About 30 far-right wingers joined the long-hour "patrolling" of Janov today. They distributed DS materials to non-Romany residents, along with a questionary enquiring into whether they are satisfied with the measures the town hall has taken to restore order in Janov.

Local Romanies, most of whom watched the march from windows and balconies of their flats, scolded the "patrollers" and called on them to leave Janov.

"It was a provocation on the Workers’ Party’s part. I’m glad that our Romanies are reasonable and that they managed to face the provocation within the framework of law," Radek Grunza, chairman of the Romany Christian Association, said.

Previously, a patrol of the DS, an extra-parliamentary party, marched through Janov in October when it met with the resistance of Romanies.

In reaction to this the DS organised a march to Janov on November 17, which ended up in a clash between the ultra-right wingers and the police, that claimed many injuries.

According to the Agency for social integration in Romany localities, low-income people from all over the Czech Republic have been moved to Janov in the past years. Many of Janov’s residents are jobless, uninterested in education and indebted.

The residents who had lived in Janov for a longer time suffer from this situation, their flats being unsellable.

Some time ago the Czech government proposed that the court dissolve the DS because of its repeated violation of law.