Police have once again taken action against neo-Nazis in various places around the Czech Republic, performing house searches in at least seven apartments since the early morning hours. Attorney Kolja Kubíček, who represents some of the extremists, referred to information on the raid from the Organized Crime Detection Unit (Útvar pro odhalování organizovaného zločinu -ÚOOZ) when speaking to ČTK today. The raid is allegedly related to concerts organized by right-wing radicals.
As with the previous case of arrests of right-wing extremists in June of this year, the warrant for the house searches was issued by the Brno - venkov district state attorney’s office, Kubíček said. In June, ÚOOZ detectives arrested and subsequently charged 10 people. "It is therefore probable that a new wave of arrests of allegedly right-wing adherents has begun,” the attorney said. Kubíček is representing several of those arrested in the first raid.
A ÚOOZ communication made available to ČTK says the detectives have also carried out raids since 5:00 AM today in the Strašnice and Vinohrady quarters of Prague, the town of Hodonín, and in České Budějovice. "I can confirm that several actions are taking place which the detectives have been working on for a long time,” ÚOOZ spokesperson Pavel Hanták told ČTK today, adding that he could not give any further details at this time. Police will allegedly release more details at the start of next week at the very earliest. Romea.cz has learned that a house search has also been conducted in the Prague apartment of Jíří Bárta, chair of the Worker’s Party branch in Vlašim.
After the June raid, police charged all 10 of those arrested with promoting a movement aimed at suppressing human rights and freedoms. The raid was the culmination of several months of work by the ÚOOZ in the area of the extremist scene. According to the police, the 10 men arrested were members of the neo-Nazi National Resistance. They are alleged to have organized 11 concerts since April of last year with the awareness that the performers and audience members would be spreading the ideas of neo-Nazism, racism, and xenophobia at them and that they would promote the National Resistance movement. Those charged deny committing any crimes.
Song lyrics at these concerts allegedly celebrated the Third Reich, anti-Semitism and racial purity. Police also say the musicians called on the audience to yell the slogans "Heil Hitler" or "Sieg Heil". Those charged face between three and eight years in prison for supporting and promoting a movement aimed at suppressing human rights and freedoms.
After the June arrests, a series of protests were held by nationalists in various places throughout the country. The most recent demonstration involved about 30 people in front of the Office of the Government in Prague. In September, 150 extreme-right adherents protested in front of the Brno prison where five of those charged in June are now in custody. The National Resistance webpage claims the police proceeded illegally during the June arrests of the group by intentionally demolishing furniture, threatening the families of those arrested, and acting unnecessarily brutally even though they faced no resistance.
The Czech government is also trying to take steps against extremism in the Czech Republic; the Interior Ministry has prepared a second proposal to abolish the Workers’ Party. Accordin to the government’s motion, the party is intentionally provoking tension in society, offending minorities and posing an immediate threat to the democratic order. The materials demonstrate that the party is connected to the neo-Nazi movement. Various party members and candidates, according to the documentation, have participated in neo-Nazi concerts and events and have either worked for National Resistance, the Autonomous Nationalists, National Corporativism and other ultra-right groups in the past or are working for them now. Party chair Tomáš Vandas has called the government motion a 'bushel of lies'.
The previous cabinet also proposed abolishing the Workers’ Party, but the Supreme Administrative Court did not grant the motion. According to the court, the proposal did not present sufficient arguments for such a serious intervention as dissolving the party.
