On November 10, an organization with the name Mladí Národní Demokraté (Young National Democrats) organized a demonstration against the presence of Czech troops in Iraq, right through the Jewish Quarter of Prague. The Prague magistrate had banned the demonstration because its official motto was a false front and its purpose was to “incite racial hatred”.

All the facts support this assessment: the person who registered the demonstration is Erik Sedlacek, a well-known member of Národni Odpor (National Resistance). The organization Mladí Národní Demokraté didn’t exist at the time of the registration and the name is fictitious. Clearly, the date and location were picked in allusion to the Night of Broken Class (November 9-10, 1938).

The ban was lifted by the Prague city court due to procedural errors, but the demonstration was prohibited again by the magistrate. Nonetheless, the Nazis continued with their mobilization (also in Germany, especially in the periphery of the so called “free nationalists” in Saxony and Thuringia). A Nazi bus from Annaberg-Buchholz in Saxony had crossed the border on Saturday morning without any serious problems. The police had closed off the entire Jewish Quarter so there were very few chances to reach the Nazis, who were gathering despite the ban – on the other hand they had no possibility to get anywhere near the synagogues.

About 25 Nazis ended up in front of a demonstration of over 800 antifascists, but they could be convinced with punchy arguments that they were in the wrong place. According to police figures, there were around 400 Nazis in total. Our demonstration went through the Prague city center, protesting loudly and snatching Nazis who went past, until it was brutally dissolved by the police. There were 396 arrests – apparently, only 30 of them were leftists, the rest Nazis – and on this day it was possible to actively block the Nazi demonstration.

The independent youth organization REVOLUTION was part of a big alliance, “The Left Against Antisemitism”, which in the end joined the demonstration organized by the anarchists and at times was at the front, defending the demonstration against police attacks.

All and all, it was a very successful day and despite the bad weather thousands of people followed the call of the Zidovská Liberálni Unie (Jewish Liberal Union) to block the entire Jewish Quarter. The antifascist demonstration was the biggest for more than ten years in the Czech Republic and it creates hope for a movement that seemed to have fallen into stagnation. Special thanks definitely go to the antifascist activists who came from Germany and Austria to support us at this action.

by Natalie, Revo Prague, November 12, 2007

• No anti-Semitism! Stop the neo-Nazi action!
• Photo gallery from Revo Prague
• Photo gallery from denik.cz