Protests at Prague meeting of European anti-immigrant parties

Several hundred people demonstrated in Prague against a meeting of anti-immigrant European parties on Saturday.

They protested outside the Prague hotel where the meeting was convened and were later scheduled to converge later in the centre of the city.

The meeting, featuring France’s Marine Le Pen and the Netherland’s Geert Wilders, was held at the invitation of the leader of the Czech Freedom and Direct Democracy Party,

Tomio Okamura. The Czech leader, whose party gained the third most seats in parliament in October’s elections, said he was a convinced European but did not want to see the continent constructed on an administrative framework out of Brussels.

Le Pen’s said the direction Europe was now heading in was against the tide of history. Wilders said he hoped the Czech Republic would continue to close its doors to what he described as mass immigration.

Police said around 300 people took part in a demonstration against the meeting on Friday.

Author: Chris Johnstone