The leader of the abolished far-right Workers' Party (DS) Tomas Vandas will renew the activities of the DS protective corps by May 7 unless the Czech Interior Ministry takes steps towards the dissolution of the guards of the centrist Public Affairs (VV) party, he told CTK Tuesday. The Public Affairs allegedly formed guards that monitor the situation in dangerous locations in Prague. The guards have no special powers but were created within the election campaign. The VV guards, formed after the example of the Workers' Party units, decided to replace the police, Vandas said. He said the Workers' Party was dissolved in February for the same reason and its candidates now run in the elections for the Workers' Party of Social Justice (DSSS). The Constitutional Court ruled that the DS spreads fears of foreigners, creates feelings of danger and that its programme promotes xenophobia, chauvinism and includes racist allusions. Vandas claimed that political competition in the Czech Republic is unjust. He said the DS protective corps will be prepared to monitor the situation in Krupka, north Bohemia, on May 7 where two DSSS election candidates were brutally attacked on Sunday. Vandas recalled that the court's verdict against the Workers' Party has not yet taken effect. The guarding units of the Public Affairs operating in the first and fifth Prague districts were today criticised by Interior Deputy Minister Lenka Ptackova Melicharova (Christian Democrats, KDU-CSL) and by the Green Party.
Prague Monitor
