Leaders of the Czech Jewish community and of the country’s Gypsy population have criticized police in the western Bohemian town of Chodov for their handling of a recent march at which skinheads shouted racist slogans.
Although the march was publicized with fliers containing racist slogans, it was sanctioned by authorities as a demonstration against drugs, violence and prostitution.
Police said the 250 demonstrators who chanted “Police out!” and “Gypsies out!” as well as anti-Semitic slogans did not disrupt public order.
“The demonstrators are illiterate and don’t know what they are saying,” said Tomas Kraus, executive director of the Federation of Jewish Communities in the Czech Republic.
“What other explanation is there when the citizens of a nation that was oppressed by the Nazis participate in such a march?”
“The actions of [the Chodov] authorities cannot be tolerated,” he added.
Ivan Vesely, secretary of the Romany Democratic Congress, condemned the march for having “public displays of racism and anti-Semitism.”
He criticized local police, whose only response to the event — aside from briefly detaining a 15-year-old boy for shouting “Jews out!” — was to implore Romanies beforehand not to the leave their homes during the Nov. 2 march.
Vesely said the police’s attitude was reminiscent of Nazi Germany, which “tolerated various violent groups.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
