Plzeň braces - again – for neo-Nazi march

For the second time this year, the city of Plzeň in West Bohemia is bracing itself for a march by neo-Nazi skinheads. As many as 400 skinheads will march down a route that takes them past Plzeň’s Great Synagogue, the second largest in Europe. Efforts to ban the march have exhausted all legal avenues; the authorities are now concentrating on keeping groups of skinheads and anti-Nazi protestors apart. And politicians are looking to how future marches can be avoided without curtailing the freedom of speech. Rob Cameron has more.

Photo: Štěpánka Budková

Plzeň’s shopkeepers will once again be rolling down their shutters on Saturday and residents of the city centre will be looking for alternative places to park. The city is on high alert as several hundred skinheads – as many as 400 according to some estimates – will descend upon the city, and anarchists and far-left protestors are expected to try and stop them. Plzeň mayor Pavel Rödl says the city is ready for all eventualities.

“The centre of town could be dangerous tomorrow: I’m not saying it will be, I’m saying it could be. We’re prepared to suspend public transport. We’re prepared to keep the far-right marchers apart from other groups of people. We’re capable of keeping the marchers together to avoid any isolated clashes, at least until the end of the march.”

Photo: Štěpánka Budková

Some 1,000 police officers backed by water cannon will be on standby to prevent any clashes as neo-Nazis march past the synagogue, some time after 2pm on Saturday. Plzeň’s Jewish Community had applied to organise a gathering outside the synagogue at the same time, but the local authorities said no, fearing a public order nightmare. The head of the community, Eva Štixová, says she’s calling on her members to fully respect the ban.

“We’re calling on people not to gather in front of the synagogue because we don’t want to break the law. The gathering has been banned, and we don’t want anyone to get hurt. If somebody does decide to go, then it’s at their own risk.”

The neo-Nazi march is only going ahead after the Supreme Administrative Court ruled that a decision by Pavel Rödl to ban a previous skinhead march – planned for January 19th – was unlawful. The court ruled that the mayor of Plzeň acted illegally by not announcing the ban within three days of the organisers filing the request, as stipulated under legislation guaranteeing the freedom of assembly.

Photo: Štěpánka Budková

But critics say poorly funded and understaffed local councils need more than three days to confirm the real agenda of groups applying for permission to march. So for example, when an individual turns up at the council saying he and a few friends want to hold a demonstration in favour of the freedom of speech, the town council often doesn’t have the legal support required to investigate that person’s possible links to neo-Nazi groups, or at least not within three days.

Plzeň Jewish community leader Eva Štixová for one says the period should be extended to at least five days – others want even tougher legal measures against the far right. But in a country where freedom of assembly was curtailed for four decades, any curbs on that freedom will always be controversial.