Led by the convicted con artist Lukáš Kohout, right-wing extremists from the Workers' Social Justice Party (Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti - DSSS) and other neo-Nazi groups, 300 - 400 people marched through Ústí nad Labem today. The anti-Romani gathering was convened by locals, allegedly to support the rights of "decent" citizens against "the parasitism of inadaptables."
The crowd did not deviate from its planned route. At one place, neo-Nazis and approximately 10 opponents of neo-Nazism and racism yelled at one another. As many as 50 police officers kept them apart. Two demonstrators wore neo-Nazi slogans on their coats.
There were 100 state police officers, 100 municipal police, and members of an anti-conflict team deployed on the streets of the town. A police helicopter flew overhead and mounted police and police dogs were also on standby.
Several promoters of the DSSS arrived in town carrying flags. The gathering started with speeches by the organizers on the square: Convener Milan Sůra, right-wing extremists from the DSSS, and convicted con artist Lukáš Kohout, who has convened similar marches in Varnsdorf. The crowd then marched through the town. The organizers planned the route to lead from Mírové Square down Velká Hradební street to the Hotel Vladimír, returning to Lidické náměstí along Masarykova street. Along the way, people chanted the slogan "Stop Black Racism" and nationalist slogans such as "Bohemia for the Czechs" or "Nothing but the Nation". They bore banners referencing the attacks allegedly committed by Romani people in Nový Bor and Rumburk, which sparked the recent unrest the neo-Nazis are now exploiting.
Right-wing extremists from the DSSS and convicted con artist Lukáš Kohout occupied the head of the march. "That is exactly what the initiator of this event probably didn't want. It looks like the protest has gotten away from his control and party members have taken over this initiative," a reporter for Czech daily Mf DNES said.
An incident occurred at a point along the march route near a closed-down restaurant where local anarchists usually meet. They had hung a banner on the building reading "Nationalism is kitsch" which the marchers tore down. About 10 opponents of neo-Nazis and racism had to be separated from the protesting crowd by about 50 special forces police. The groups shouted at one another for several minutes before the crowd continued its march without further clashes. After roughly an hour and a half, the conveners of the march officially ended it on Lidické Square and people started to disperse.
Police detained two ultra-right radicals for interrogation. "They were wearing illegal slogans on their coats, but it's too early to say whether they have committed a crime or a misdemeanor," said Jarmila Hrubešová, spokesperson for the Ústí police. News server iDNES.cz reports that the men were wearing the English-language phrase "Blood and Honor", the name of an originally British neo-Nazi organization established in 1987 by a singer with the Nazi band Skrewdriver, Ian Stuart. The name was taken from the battle cry of the Hitler Youth. The group defines itself as a "Nationalist Revolutionary Movement" espousing the legacy of the Third Reich.
Early this morning, police discovered and removed a cache of paving stones and wooden tool-handles in a cellar along the march route. Mounds of paving stones were also found on Velká hradební street. Before noon, police also arrested a man armed with a machete. Vladimír Danyluk, the head of the Ústí nad Labem territory, said police had been monitoring all access roads to the town since morning but did not discover any more weapons.
At 13:30, a similar rally was held in Varnsdorf (Děčín district), where people were protesting for the ninth weekend in a row. Police spokesperson Daniel Vítek said the situation in the town was completely calm. About 150 people met on the town square, but did not march anywhere. The conveners of the demonstration once again criticized the Mayor of Varnsdorf, Martin Louka.
Romea.CZ
Monday, 10 October 2011
Racist-attacks pair are jailed for a year (EDL, UK)
Two former English Defence League members are beginning year-long jail sentences after racist attacks at a mosque and two Asian-run businesses.
Steven James Vasey and Anthony Donald Smith launched their offensive after incidents at a war memorial in Luton on Armistice Day last November, where poppies were burnt by extreme Islamic groups.
On the eve of Muslim festival Eid, the masked men, along with an accomplice, climbed a fence at the Nasir mosque in Hartlepool.
The letters “EDL” and “NEI”, for the North East Infidels, were sprayed along with “no surrender” and images of poppies and the St George flag.
Prosecutor Chris Baker told Durham Crown Court that a taxi seen in the area at the time was similar to a vehicle spotted later in Potto Street in Shotton Colliery, where an upstairs window of the Milco store was smashed with a brick.
Similar graffiti to that left on the mosque was sprayed on the shop and the nearby Albert Guest House, which are both owned by an Asian businessman.
Mr Baker told Recorder William Lowe there was an irony that the store was selling poppies when the attack was carried out.
He said taxi driver Smith, 24, of Rydale Court, Trimdon, previously of Neptune Way, Easington Colliery, was arrested the next day.
Messages on his mobile showed planning with then-girlfriend Charlotte Christina Davies and Vasey and included claims they were going “Muzzy bashing” and were going togive the mosque a “makeover”.
Smith, Vasey, 32, formerly of Pittington and now of Eden Crescent, Darlington, and Davies, 19, of Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, all admitted conspiracy to commit racially aggravated criminal damage.
Stephen Constantine, representing Smith, said he showed a “lack ofinsight” into the consequences and it had been prompted by the poppy burning.
Shaun Dryden, mitigating for Vasey, said his actions were foolish.
Jane Waugh, mitigating on behalf of Davies, said her involvement came to text messages offering encouragement.
She was given a 12-week sentence, suspended for a year, and 200 hours’ unpaid work.
The barristers said all three had severed their ties with the EDL.
Jailing the men, Judge Lowe remarked that the attacks were carried out in the wake of the Luton incident.
He said: “It may be that was something these three had in mind, but it does not excuse this conduct.
He added: “It’s the sort of behaviour from which those who are militant feed.”
After the hearing, Inspector Dave Coxon, of Peterlee Neighbourhood Policing Team, said: “I’m pleased that this has gone to court and they pleaded guilty and the sentence reflects the serious nature of the offence.
“We continue to take these sorts of offences seriously and we will strive to support all members of the community.”
Sunderland Echo
Steven James Vasey and Anthony Donald Smith launched their offensive after incidents at a war memorial in Luton on Armistice Day last November, where poppies were burnt by extreme Islamic groups.
On the eve of Muslim festival Eid, the masked men, along with an accomplice, climbed a fence at the Nasir mosque in Hartlepool.
The letters “EDL” and “NEI”, for the North East Infidels, were sprayed along with “no surrender” and images of poppies and the St George flag.
Prosecutor Chris Baker told Durham Crown Court that a taxi seen in the area at the time was similar to a vehicle spotted later in Potto Street in Shotton Colliery, where an upstairs window of the Milco store was smashed with a brick.
Similar graffiti to that left on the mosque was sprayed on the shop and the nearby Albert Guest House, which are both owned by an Asian businessman.
Mr Baker told Recorder William Lowe there was an irony that the store was selling poppies when the attack was carried out.
He said taxi driver Smith, 24, of Rydale Court, Trimdon, previously of Neptune Way, Easington Colliery, was arrested the next day.
Messages on his mobile showed planning with then-girlfriend Charlotte Christina Davies and Vasey and included claims they were going “Muzzy bashing” and were going togive the mosque a “makeover”.
Smith, Vasey, 32, formerly of Pittington and now of Eden Crescent, Darlington, and Davies, 19, of Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, all admitted conspiracy to commit racially aggravated criminal damage.
Stephen Constantine, representing Smith, said he showed a “lack ofinsight” into the consequences and it had been prompted by the poppy burning.
Shaun Dryden, mitigating for Vasey, said his actions were foolish.
Jane Waugh, mitigating on behalf of Davies, said her involvement came to text messages offering encouragement.
She was given a 12-week sentence, suspended for a year, and 200 hours’ unpaid work.
The barristers said all three had severed their ties with the EDL.
Jailing the men, Judge Lowe remarked that the attacks were carried out in the wake of the Luton incident.
He said: “It may be that was something these three had in mind, but it does not excuse this conduct.
He added: “It’s the sort of behaviour from which those who are militant feed.”
After the hearing, Inspector Dave Coxon, of Peterlee Neighbourhood Policing Team, said: “I’m pleased that this has gone to court and they pleaded guilty and the sentence reflects the serious nature of the offence.
“We continue to take these sorts of offences seriously and we will strive to support all members of the community.”
Sunderland Echo
100 Detained in Moscow amid nationalist rally call (Russia)
Police in Moscow have detained about 100 people suspected of planning a nationalist rally near the Kremlin. Police spokesman Anatoly Lastovetsky said some of those detained on Manezh Square were carrying weapons including pistols that fire rubber bullets. A heavy contingent of police was deployed in and around the sprawling square after calls appeared on the Internet for an unauthorized gathering to mark the death a week ago of an 18-year-old in a nightclub fight between a group of soccer fans and men of Caucasus descent.
Violence between ethnic Russians and people from the Caucasus is frequent. In December, about 5,000 people chanting "Russia for Russians" gathered at Manezh Square and beat dark-skinned passers-by. That gathering was a reaction to the killing of a Russian soccer fan during a fight with people from the Caucasus.
Associated Press
Violence between ethnic Russians and people from the Caucasus is frequent. In December, about 5,000 people chanting "Russia for Russians" gathered at Manezh Square and beat dark-skinned passers-by. That gathering was a reaction to the killing of a Russian soccer fan during a fight with people from the Caucasus.
Associated Press
BNP facing accusations of fraud (UK)
The dual investigations come as a former BNP administrator told the BBC's Panorama programme that she was instructed to falsify invoices.
Those invoices were then submitted by the BNP to the Electoral Commission.
The BNP has strongly denied any suggestion of wrongdoing.
The allegations come as the party struggles with debts run up during the 2010 general election campaign.
'Invoices faked'Internal party documents seen by Panorama reveal that 12 months ago the BNP owed creditors more than £570,000. Party chairman Nick Griffin recently said the party now owes just £52,000.
Former party worker Marion Thomas said after the 2010 general election she was instructed by the party's treasurer, Clive Jefferson, to alter invoices and in at least one case stamp an outstanding invoice as "paid".
The invoices were submitted to the Electoral Commission and had been altered, Mrs Thomas said, in order for it to appear that the BNP had complied with the law on election spending.
Asked how she felt about doing this, Mrs Thomas said: "I made my objections known."
She added: "You can't do that, you cannot do that. That is fraud."
Mr Jefferson told the programme that Mrs Thomas' allegations are "untrue".
Mrs Thomas, who now works for Britain First, a rival political organisation, has since been interviewed about her claims by detectives from the Metropolitan Police who are investigating alleged breaches of electoral law by the BNP.
That investigation began after Richard Barnbrook, who used to be the BNP member of the London Assembly and Mr Griffin's 2010 election agent, went to the High Court to say that he had submitted printing invoices totalling nearly £10,000 as paid when they too were outstanding.
Mr Griffin also signed those returns. Both he and Mr Barnbrook, who has since been expelled from the party and now sits as an independent in London, have said they acted in good faith, believing the bills had indeed been paid.
The High Court judge has referred the case the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Metropolitan Police were notified.
'Cash cow'
Another former party worker, Alistair Barbour, was recruited to Mr Griffin's European staff after he and one other BNP candidate were elected members of the European Parliament in 2009.
Mr Barbour was hired to work on European Parliament business and was to be paid out of the £260,000 pot of EU money that each MEP has available to them to pay for staff and expenses.
He told the programme that some money intended for MEP business was diverted to help bolster the party itself.
"Europe was the big cash cow you know, 'let's get our noses in the trough and see what we can get out and... see what we can fund the party with,'" he said of the approach to the MEP funds.
He added: "This is what it was all about, party work and just trying to figure out what expenses we could get out of the European Union."
Other party insiders have told the programme that at one point electricity from Nick Griffin's European constituency headquarters on an industrial estate in rural Cumbria was siphoned to the unit next door which served as the BNP's national headquarters.
When the European Parliament's fraud unit, OLAF, travelled to Cumbria five months later to investigate the allegations they found no evidence of an electricity scam but Panorama understands that they continue to investigate other allegations of misuse of European money by the BNP.
The BNP has denied using money from the European Union to fund national party work.
Panorama: BNP - The Fraud Exposed, BBC One, Monday, 10 October at 2030BST and then available in the UK on the
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