Organizers have cancelled a concert by the neo-Nazi band Call of Freedom which was to have taken place at the end of this month in North Bohemia, according to information published on the official website of the event. Representatives of the extremist Workers’ Party (Dělnická strana) were to have given speeches there and several groups from various countries were to have performed. Last week police charged 10 neo-Nazis from National Resistance with organizing concerts at which Nazism and fascism were allegedly promoted.
"This event has been cancelled! Please let your friends know," the website says. On one internet chat room to which right-wing radicals contribute, the cancellation of this “political meeting followed by a musical performance” was said to be due to “state repression”.
According to invitations circulating on the web, the event was organized by the Workers’ Party and the Hate Core Shop. According to a flyer published on the shop’s website, the party wanted to celebrate its recent success during the EP elections at the event. The WP received 1.09 % of the vote.
Head of the Hate Core Shop Martin Franěk is allegedly one of the radicals whom police arrested and charged last week. According to Ondřej Cakl, who has followed the ultra-right scene for many years, Franěk is a significant organizer of neo-Nazi concerts.
Party chief Tomáš Vandas, first vice-chair Jiří Štěpánek and party presidium member Martin Zbela were all scheduled to speak at the event. Several bands considered extreme-right or neo-Nazi were scheduled to perform, such as the US groups Bully Boys or H8Machine. Czech bands were to be represented by Attack. According to Cakl, Attack’s lineup includes Vilém Farkač, allegedly another of the 10 men recently charged.
Detectives of the Organized Crime Detection Unit (Útvar pro odhalování organizovaného zločinu - ÚOOZ) arrested 10 radicals last Tuesday. According to police, all of them were members of the neo-Nazi National Resistance. Police say those charged organized 11 concerts since April of last year with the awareness that the performers and the audience would be disseminating the ideas of neo-Nazism, racism, and xenophobia during the concerts and that the National Resistance movement would be promoted at them. The men face between three and eight years in prison for supporting and promoting a movement aimed at suppressing human rights and freedoms. Five of those arrested have been remanded into custody.
Lukáš Rod is allegedly among those charged; according to Cakl, Rod evidently took part in preparing the Call of Freedom event. During a recent march by right-wing radicals through Jihlava, which officials dispersed shortly after it began, Cakl says Rod was seen wearing an organizer’s armband.
The WP has provided its auspices to another "musical-political festival" called Den svobody 2 (Freedom Day 2). According to this event’s website, the gathering will take place in mid-August near Prague. WP representatives will be among those giving speeches. Among the groups scheduled to perform is the band Devils Guard, whose lead singer, Pavel Blinka, is allegedly another of the 10 radicals recently charged. Cakl says Blinka recently participated in marches by far-right adherents in Jihlava and Ústí nad Labem, where he accompanied the marchers on drums.
