Hundreds turn out to commemorate Plzeň Holocaust victims

Meanwhile, hundreds of Czechs turned out in Plzeň on Saturday to commemorate the first deportation of the town’s Jews to concentration camps where most of them died. Speeches were delivered to the crowd by the chief Czech Rabbi Karel Sidon and Catholic Bishop František Radkovksý. About 100 riot police, 30 police vans and a water canon were stationed nearby, in case the event were sabotaged by neo-Nazis who had planned to march. Names of some of the Jews deported were read at the act of commemoration. Then, under police supervision, the crowd then moved to St. Bartholomew’s Cathedral where candles were symbolically lit.