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Czech town bans neo-Nazi march

By · January 17, 2008

The mayor of a Czech town banned a march by neo-Nazis.

Pilsen Mayor Pavel Roedl told reporters that he would not allow the march, planned for Saturday, for security reasons and because he did not want to give “radicals ... a free possibility to give the Nazi salute.”

German police said they were ready to stop neo-Nazis from crossing into the Czech Republic for the march, which was to pass by Pilsen’s Great Synagogue. The march was scheduled for one day after ceremonies marking the 65th anniversary of the first deportation of the town’s Jews to concentration camps.

Oliver Platzer, a spokesman for the Bavarian interior minister, told reporters that German police were monitoring right-wing groups and would work together with Czech police.

The German-Czech border has had no customs control since Dec. 21, when the Czech Republic joined the so-called Schengen area of contiguous European Union member states. But border police remain active in the area, Platzer said.

The Web site of the Czech right-wing radicals reportedly included an urgent invitation to “German comrades” to attend the event. German neo-Nazis issued their own Internet appeal.

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