Czech intelligence service: Right-wing extremists tried to revive last year

Right-wing extremists in the Czech Republic did their best to renew their activities last year after several years of attenuation as a result of pressure from police and other authorities. Their scene, however, remains fragmented. Those are the conclusions of the annual report released online by the Security Information Service (Bezpečnostní informační služby – BIS) for 2011. According to the secret service, left-wing extremism slightly revived thanks to citizens’ frustration with the economic and political situation, but no larger developments in that area took place from a long-range perspective.

Right-wing extremists succeeded in holding several large public gatherings, particularly in the context of their alleged fight against Romani crime and because of the atmosphere in the Šluknov foothills. Residents in that troubled area supported right-wing extremists during their events there.

“After a decline in the number of right-wing extremist events featuring music performances in previous years, there was a definite revival in that area,” the annual report says. Some large concerts were held in the Czech Republic, but right-wing extremists are preferring to gather abroad now, particularly in Poland.

The most visible right-wing oriented group last year was the Workers Social Justice Party ( Dělnická strana sociální spravedlnosti – DSSS) despite all of the problems accompanying the party’s operations. BIS reports the party mainly used the topic of socially “inadaptable” citizens in order to get publicity. The party scored some partial gains with that issue but was not successful with other topics.

The DSSS remained closely connected to the Workers Youth group (Dělnická mládež – DM) and also collaborated with the Autonomous Nationalists (Autonomní nacionalisty – AN), whose significance declined last year. The party was also active internationally, attempting to collaborate with German right-wing extremists.

“National Resistance (Národní odpor – NO) as a homogenous organization has de facto collapsed. Its various branches, each one comprised of just a few individuals, have gradually reduced their activities or even ended them altogether,” the counter-intelligence service reports.

BIS reports that left-wing extremists were fragmented last year, just like the right-wing extremists were. They had few active members and were not able to attract a larger number of new sympathizers.