Prague Fears Violence As Neo-Nazis Plan March
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Prague is preparing for battle this weekend after neo-Nazis vowed to march through the Czech capital on the anniversary of the Nazi kristallnacht pogrom.
Hundreds of extremists from the Czech Republic and abroad are expected to press ahead with the rally, even though it has been banned by a local court.
The mayor of Prague, Pavel Bem, has promised to deploy almost 1,500 police and adopt zero tolerance on Saturday, when the march is scheduled to take place. He said Czech authorities were “ready to use force” to uphold the court order. The show of force comes after the Czech prime minister, Mirek Topolanek, and President Klaus attended a meeting of the country’s security council to coordinate a response to the march and potential violence. Jewish groups in Prague have promised to hold at least three counterdemonstrations and said they wouldn’t allow the neo-Nazis through the Josefov Jewish quarter in the city center. The weekend’s showdown between Jewish groups and right-wing extremists is being viewed as a grim echo of the events of 69 years ago, when thousands of shops and synagogues were ransacked and set ablaze across Nazi Germany in a rampage known as kristallnacht — the “the night of broken glass.”