Police defend anti-Roma march

Police have again clashed violently with counter-demonstrators opposing an extremist march, this time in the town of Krupka, near Ústí nad Labem in north Bohemia.

In the latest incident April 9, police forcibly dispersed a crowd of around 200 Roma and activist supporters holding an ecumenical service, after the crowd refused multiple requests to move.

Campaigners say a 75-year-old Greek Catholic clergyman from the area was among several people who received mild injuries in the police intervention.

Seven demonstrators and counter-demonstrators were arrested, although only one was subsequently taken into custody, police spokeswoman Ilona Novotná told the Czech News Agency.

The service was being held at the entrance to the Maršov housing estate, where most of the residents are Roma, blocking the path of a pre-approved march through the town by around 150 supporters of the extremist Workers Party of Social Justice (DSSS).

In a statement April 11, representatives of the "We Don't Want Neo-Nazis in Ústí" initiative said they were considering legal action against the police over the incident.

The injured clergyman, Ludvík Šťastný, said he believed the police intervention against a religious service of Bible readings, sermons and Christian hymns was a serious violation of fundamental constitutional rights.

Human rights researcher and campaigner Gwendolyn Albert strongly criticized the "government at all levels" for not intervening against extremist marches, and accused the government of "violating international human rights principles by failing to prevent this targeting of members of a minority."

"This government clearly believes the DSSS has the free speech right to continue the campaign of psychological warfare against Roma people that led to its predecessor, the Workers Party, being banned," she said.

By the letter

Police said they based their intervention on a legal analysis from the Interior Ministry that found while religious gatherings did not require advance approval, they were still subject to the law on general assemblies. The analysis also found that announced assemblies should take priority over religious ones.

The DSSS said its march was held to highlight an attack in which two Roma youths brutally beat and raped a boy named Patrik in Krupka a year ago, in an incident the courts have found was racially motivated.

Demonstrators chanted slogans such as "Gypsies to work" and "Patrik, we are with you."

Last month, a Court of Appeals reduced the sentence of one of the assailants in the case from 10 years to five years. The other youth was not prosecuted because he was under 15 - the age of criminal liability - at the time of the attack.

DSSS Chairman Tomáš Vandas praised the police for allowing his party's march to continue, but criticized the arrest of one of the party's speakers, a Slovak extremist-party member whose speech police said "showed indications of racial intolerance."

Asked for specific examples of the "reverse racism" he decried in his own address, Vandas told The Prague Post the DSSS "has many testimonies by people who turn to us and say how they are treated in employment offices or social services is completely different."

"The government worries about being called extremist or racist, so it doesn't enforce any policies against an EU official who tells us how to behave toward Gypsies," he said.

In remarks clearly aimed at the Roma community, Vandas said his party supported "repressions when needed" to ensure "equal treatment," saying there could be no "integration" without preventing an "attitude ... where they feel they get away with everything."

Vandas said his party receives "five to 10 requests a week" from people asking them to demonstrate in their town, particularly in north Bohemia and Moravia.

"This happens because people don't trust the state, and their only solution is that by rallying there, we would get media attention, and their problem will be solved," he said.

He added that the party's next rally would be in Brno May 1, with more to follow.

 - Klára Jiřičná contributed to this report.

Bill Lehane can be reached at
blehane@praguepost.com