Almost 400 individuals detained by police on day of planned illegal march

Czech police have revealed that a total of 396 individuals – 96 of them foreign nationals – were detained in Prague on Saturday in connection to an illegal demonstration in the city. Right-wing extremists had threatened to march through the city’s historic Jewish quarter on the anniversary of Kristallnacht – the Nazi pogrom which targeted Jews in Germany in 1938. But the radicals showed up in lesser numbers than expected and failed to go ahead with the event in the face of a strong police presence: some 1,600 officers. Throughout the day right-wing extremists were arrested in a number of locations in the city, after clashing with police. Some were detained after police found them carrying concealed weapons, including batons and homemade explosives.

According to the numbers now revealed, around 200 individuals were charged with misdemeanours; three extremists were charged with assault on a police officer.