Prague police arrest 42 members of extreme right Workers’ Party at protest rally

Police in Prague have announced they have arrested 42 members of the extreme right-wing Workers’ Party, including the party’s chairman. The members were arrested in Prague city centre at a demonstration protesting the banning of their election commercials. A demonstration of some 60 people was first broken up by a city official on the grounds of a speech having referred to National Socialism, which is an offence under Czech law. The crowd then planned to march on the Czech Radio building but was barricaded by the police and most were detained for questioning after ignoring orders to disperse. Czech Radio took the decision to ban the Workers’ Party’s pre-election ads last week due to concerns that the ads, which attack the country’s Romani minority, violated hate speech laws.