CZECH REPUBLIC: ANARCHIST RIOTS OVERSHADOW PLANNED

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PRAGUE 001225 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL SOCI EZ SUBJECT: CZECH REPUBLIC: ANARCHIST RIOTS OVERSHADOW PLANNED NEO-NAZI MARCHES, THOUSANDS PEACEFULLY DEMONSTRATE AGAINST FASCISM ¶1. (U) SUMMARY & COMMENT: The much-anticipated and, in some cases, feared neo-Nazi marches through Prague's Jewish quarter on November 10 were largely nullified by effective police work and well-organized counter-demonstrations. Most of the day's events passed peacefully with nearly a thousand people, many wearing Stars of David, attending solemn prayer vigils on the 69th anniversary of Kristallnacht. Thousands of ordinary Czechs participated in other peaceful gatherings throughout the day, and Foreign Minister Schwarzenberg and his German counterpart visited with local Jewish leaders. Though the participation of right-wing groups at the protests was ruled illegal, many nevertheless attempted to demonstrate. Czech authorities intercepted scores of neo-Nazis coming from abroad and apprehended many local extremists before they reached the demonstrations. ¶2. (U) SUMMARY & COMMENT CONT: However, it was the rallies by several thousand left-wing radicals that overshadowed the neo-Nazi actions. An anarchist march later in the day spun out of control and led to clashes with police and by-standers. In all, approximately 400 people were arrested, 90 of whom were foreigners. Many would-be demonstrators had weapons. Though prepared for the worst, police forces exercised admirable restraint in containing the riots and not responding to provocation. Nevertheless, the demonstrations and clashes raised uncomfortable questions for the Czech Republic: namely, whether the country can find a proper balance between protected free-speech and prohibited hate speech; and whether the left was able to exploit the occasion to further its own extremist goals. END SUMMARY & COMMENT THE ROAD TO PRAGUE ¶3. (U) The road to the November 10 demonstrations began on August 27, when an unknown group in Brno calling itself Mladi Narodni Demokrate ("Young National Democrats," hereafter National Democrats) filed a petition with the Prague city hall for permission to demonstrate against the country's involvement in Iraq on the anniversary of Kristallnacht. The city approved the permit, but after some research, it became apparent that the National Democrats were a front organization for Narodni Odpor ("National Resistance"),a group known for its neo-Nazi agenda and history of incitement against racial and ethnic minorities. The city swiftly reversed course and canceled the organizers' permit. ¶4. (U) Through a series of appeals and counter-appeals, the fate of the permit remained in doubt, with the Prague City Court holding to its ruling from 2006 that the city had no legal right to go beyond the organizers' stated intent on the application when deciding whether to issue the permit. In essence, the court ruled that free speech rights outweigh a supposed but unproven potential for hate speech. Meanwhile, the city discovered that the National Democrats were not a legally registered organization until two weeks after they filed their petition to march. Ultimately, the Supreme Administrative Court overruled the lower court on technical grounds, holding that as the National Democrats were not a legally-registered entity at the time they filed their request, they lacked the requisite legal status to march. This obviated the need for the city to issue the permit and made it unnecessary for legal authorities to decide the more substantive constitutional issues. ¶5. (U) The constant high-level political and social focus on the controversy generated intense media interest, including steady coverage in the foreign press, and elevated what might have been a poorly-attended right-wing rally into a high-stakes spectacle. With neo-Nazi groups in neighboring countries stating their solidarity with their "brethren" against a "communist-like" local government in Prague; strong reaction from the Jewish community, which promised counter-demonstrations and considered direct action to prevent the marches from occurring; and permission by the city to far-left anti-fascists groups to demonstrate at the same time and place as the neo-Nazis had proposed, the event that took place November 10 took on a life of its own, overshadowing what had started out as a free-speech debate. ¶6. (U) Throughout the legal battles, high-level Czech politicians, including President Klaus, former President Havel, and Prime Minister Topolanek came out strongly against the marches and appealed to authorities against granting legal cover to what they feared would be incitement to hatred and violence. The legal wrangling also attracted the unwanted attention of foreign extremist groups. According to Minister of the Interior, Langer, last weekend the Czech border police mobilized to turn back neo-Nazis planning to travel to Prague. Nevertheless, many managed to slip through, as over 90 of those later arrested were foreigners. PRAGUE 00001225 002 OF 003 ¶7. (U) The events of November 10 began with prayer services in the Jewish quarter to commemorate the 69th anniversary of Kristallnacht. Near-freezing temperatures failed to deter almost a thousand people from attending a prayer vigil in front of the Old Synagogue, and thousands of ordinary citizens took part in well-organized gatherings on Old Town Square, handing out leaflets, and listening to speeches by Holocaust survivors warning against a resurgence of extremism in Europe. Security was unusually tight, with more than 1400 riot police lining the streets and sealing off entrances to alleys and side streets to block right-wing activists who vowed to demonstrate even without a permit. Police efforts were largely successful, as few neo-Nazis entered the protest area; most were headed off on their way to the city center. ANARCHISTS SPOIL THE SHOW ¶8. (U) The peace and quiet that largely characterized the day, however, was shattered late-afternoon after approximately two thousand left-wing anarchists, mostly Czechs, shouting anti-fascist slogans and waving flags showing fists crushing swastikas and a figure kicking another figure under the banner: "Good night, White Pride" began a counter-march through the Jewish quarter. There they met heavily armed riot police with APCs and anti-riot gates meant to stop opposing sides from confronting each other. ¶9. (U) Hundreds of anarchists filled the area and, believing that neo-Nazis were marching on the other side of the blockade, surged toward the barriers, with a group of about a dozen breaking through the cordon. Horse-mounted police moved to re-establish order, but by then the crowd's mood had turned ugly. With nary a neo-Nazi in sight, and shouting "Anti-Fa! Anti-Fa!" (short for "Anti-Fascist"),the anarchists turned their anger on the police, striking at them with nightsticks and clubs made from protest banner handles. Several demonstrators lobbed incendiary devices over the crowd's head, and loud explosions erupted sporadically for the next several minutes, filling the area with dense smoke and making it difficult to breathe. A tense standoff followed where it appeared that the police would mount tough counter-measures or a stampede would ensue. However, the police maintained their positions and only forced protesters away from the barriers with their riot shields. (NOTE: While conflict came to characterize the conditions at the end of the day in the Jewish quarter, most other areas of the city continued to function as normal throughout the day. END NOTE) CAUGHT BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE ¶10. (U) After the rallies and protests concluded, local community leaders expressed overall satisfaction with the high turnout of supporters who had effectively marginalized the much smaller right-wing presence. However, the presence of thousands of anarchists at a largely peaceful event gave rise to the question of whether officials, admittedly bound by court decisions that require strict interpretation of applications to demonstrate, had inadvertently benefited left-wing anarchists by giving them a highly-visible platform from which to project their radical views. While the question of whether right-wing extremism was on the ascendant seemed to be decisively answered in the negative, the question of left-wing extremism, thriving on confrontations with authority figures, was less easy to answer. ¶11. (U) COMMENT: From a rule of law standpoint, the Czech authorities demonstrated that they were up to the task of maintaining order under difficult circumstances, without resorting to the aggressive tactics that characterized past confrontations, such as the case of human rights activist, Katerina Jacques. (Jacques, the government's former human rights ombudsman, and now a member of parliament from the Green party, was assaulted by police during 2006 counter-demonstrations against a far-right gathering in Prague.) The GOCR's commitment to providing an orderly environment during which advocates can express free, even unpopular, speech was reflected in the fact that the Czech government spent as much on the weekend's public safety operations as they had spent on last summer's POTUS visit to Prague. The government will have its next opportunity to show this restrained but robust approach on November 17, the anniversary of the 1989 Velvet Revolution, when demonstrators will square off again over a number of current hot-button social and political issues, such as the war in Iraq and the proposed radar installation. ¶12. (U) COMMENT CONT: In a November 14 op-ed piece in the center-left daily Pravo, President Klaus pointed the finger of responsibility for the extremist phenomenon not only at the extremists but also at the Czech society from which they come. Klaus questioned whether the seeds of extremism in the Czech Republic do not lie in a general decline of moral values in Czech society in recent years. He went on to say PRAGUE 00001225 003 OF 003 that in taking down barriers, Czechs may have also inadvertently erased limits that would have kept extremism in check. Indeed, it is fair to wonder whether the high-level interest shown by community and political leaders on the topic of extremism will endure beyond the current headlines. ¶13. (U) COMMENT CONT: Long-term, it appears that more work needs to be done to curb the lure of extremism, especially among the youth. According to Charles University lecturer and expert on extremism, Zdenek Zboril, this is a critical challenge facing Czech leaders today. Zboril stated that it was incumbent on Czech politicians and society at large to assimilate at-risk youth as quickly as possible, noting that "these young people will be with us for the next fifty or more years." However, on a more immediate basis, the government needs to decide how it will deal with the same problem before next year, when all sides of the controversy will file their paperwork and look to express their vastly different opinions once again. Lacking clear judicial precedent, the government may need to revisit the substance of the law in question, and ask itself the difficult question of how much free speech is too much. END COMMENT Graber