Police crack down on hate group members

It took Czech police just over a year to gather enough evidence to be able to charge nine Czech skinheads for allegedly racist activities, including the spread of Nazi propaganda in the Czech Republic. The suspects, the oldest of whom is twenty-five, the youngest nineteen, are believed to have organised four key skinhead concerts featuring racist music, concerts aimed at spreading hate and drawing both local supporters and followers from abroad. Jan Velinger reports.

Police crack down on hate group members

CDs, cassettes, books and Nazi symbols, photo: CTK

In the past Czech police have often been criticised by the media and non-government organisations for not taking significant steps to prevent organised racism in the Czech Republic: the situation came to a head last year when police did nothing to stop a skinhead concert from taking place at the village of Senohraby near Prague, where groups with names like Juden Mord, or Death to Jews, were slated to perform.

At the time police claimed they had no evidence of any wrong-doing - although that soon changed. Within weeks police obtained incriminating photographs of the organisers, as well as others at the concert giving the illegal Nazi salute. But a series of police raids on the suspects' homes uncovered more, important and potentially damning evidence: hundreds of CDs, cassettes, books, Nazi symbols and other paraphernalia promoting racial hatred. Police official Patrik Frk:

"In my experience I've never come across a similar case in terms of scope and quantity. The content of the publications and CDs can provoke religious or racial hatred."

Not surprisingly, many view the latest steps by Czech police as a move in the right direction. Ondrej Cakl, a member of the public initiative Tolerance, says that the arrests are significant, building upon earlier police raids against the racist organisation Blood and Hammer.

"The development is significant because police were able to unmask a new organisational group, by moving in, confiscating material. Cases like this it can mean a set-back of three or four years before individuals in the group reorganise, assuming they are found guilty and sent to prison. Meanwhile others are left to pick up the pieces and try and find replacements."

Which is precisely the problem. Organised racism and hatred, like all organised crime, is a many headed-dragon, and it seems that when police move in against one group, others inevitably take their place. Tolerance's Ondrej Cakl points out that in the past Czech police haven't had it easy against hardcore racist groups, which are well-organised and spread throughout Europe; and he even suggests that Czech police may have gotten a bit of a bad rap. While some say police investigations take too long before yielding results, others, like Ondrej Cakl suggest it is better that an investigation take longer to build a proper case: enough evidence will put organisers of hate crimes behind bars, and not let them slip through the cracks.