Czech Police investigating four neo-Nazis for rioting in Duchcov after Saturday's march
Police are investigating some of the participants in last Saturday’s neo-Nazi march in Duchcov for rioting and vandalism committed after the event was over. Four men aged between 20 and 31 smashed in the glass doors and windows of many buildings and most probably set fire to a garbage container as they proceeded to the bus station after the demonstration.
The neo-Nazis busted in the doors and window of a local policeman’s home and threw firecrackers at Romani people while cursing at them, as well as harassing local Romani resident Štefan Horvát for a fourth time. It is not yet clear whether the same group of violent thugs committed all of the violence that has been described.
Curses and firecrackers
The neo-Nazis have wreaked havoc once more, following their leaders in Duchcov, Jindřich "Pinďa" Svoboda and Jan Dufek, who have said in the past that they would like to achieve the murder of Romani people. After the demonstration in Duchcov this past weekend, some demonstrators walked around town assaulting Romani residents.
The neo-Nazis began their provocation in a pub in a Romani neighborhood and then assaulted two Romani people on the street. "A group of about 10 DSSS promoters, eight guys and two women, led by Dufek and Svoboda, first came to the U Kozáka pub. Within moments about 20 Romani people had gathered nearby because they feared the DSSS was planning something more against them," Jan Oláh, one of three spokespeople elected by the Romani community of Duchcov to speak on their behalf, told news server Romea.cz.
Oláh then called the police contact officer who had been in charge of coordinating the response to that day’s events. He sent out a police patrol.
"The police officers returned from the pub with the claim that Dufek, Svoboda and Co. were only having a beer there and would not attempt anything against us. However, when [the neo-Nazis] came out of the pub, they began cursing at me and the other Roma. Then two Romani people came around the corner and the extremists immediately began throwing firecrackers at their feet. I asked one of the police officers to intervene and he started yelling at me that I don’t get to tell him what to do. Later I heard that they eventually detained at least one of the extremists," Oláh said.
News server Romea.cz has also been informed that the neo-Nazis went to shout curses beneath the window of Štefan Horvát’s home. Horvát has been physically and verbally assaulted by neo-Nazis in Duchcov more than once, but he was not home at the time.
While it cannot be 100 % proven, it seems the neo-Nazi group most probably split up at that point. Those who were not residents of Duchcov set out for the bus station and committed other offenses along the way.
Antique doors destroyed
Petr Störzer of the Duchcov Municipal Police has posted this "thank you note" to the Facebook page of the local DSSS cell for the anti-Romani demonstrators having broken his door and window:
"I’d like to thank the promoters of the DSSS Duchcov cell who came out to support its efforts for a calm, safe Duchcov and for a great evening at work. I don’t know what their idea of ‘calm and safe’ is, but it’s definitely different from mine. When, after a trouble-free march, as has been reported, these people evidently had had enough to drink at the pub, they returned to the bus station in the evening and could definitely be heard doing it. Not only were there firecrackers going off all over, but in order that we not forget how much they support us and that they are truly strong enough to ensure ‘calm and safety’, they busted in not only a door panel, but my entire front door on their way. This is a wooden entryway from the year 1896 which survived two world wars, but which unfortunately has now succumbed to this ‘fight for calm and safety’. As a bonus, they also broke my window. So, after 13 hours at work, during which it was I who had been ensuring their safety (and now wanted to rest), I now had to guard my own home until midnight. As I was out repairing the damage, the very satisfied chair of the DSSS in Duchcov, Svoboda, walked past. When I asked him if this was his idea of calm and safety in the town, he just said it wasn’t his problem and that such things just ‘happen’. I’ve heard this somewhere before: ‘If you want an omelet, you’ve got to break some eggs’."
Broken windows, container on fire
News server iDNES.cz also reported that a group of neo-Nazis wreaked havoc in Duchcov while heading for the bus station. "They are also suspected of having urinated on the entrance doors to a building and vulgarly cursing at a female resident. They then proceeded to another house, where they kicked in a front door panel and smashed a window pane. They are probably also responsible for setting a plastic garbage container on fire near the bus station and breaking in two glass panels of the building. They left by bus but were apprehended by police officers on board," said police spokesperson Daniel Vítek. "One suspect is a man who had already been previously detained during Saturday’s security operation in Duchcov for refusing to obey police officers’ instructions during the demonstration."
Police officers have not yet calculated the damages caused. They are investigating the case as one of rioting and vandalism and have already charged one of the people detained.
Police say between 250 – 300 people attended Saturday’s DSSS march in Duchcov. After the march was officially ended, about 100 demonstrators set out for the town’s Romani neighborhood but were prevented by police from accessing it at that time.
There were 500 police officers overseeing the events in Duchcov on Saturday. They confiscated a metal rod, a wooden truncheon and two wooden poles during searches of vehicles driving into town prior to the assembly.
