Bizarre demonstration: Czech communists and fans of racist skinhead music protest the alleged "Nazism" of the Ukrainian brigade formed from the Azov Regiment
Several dozen demonstrators came to the center of Prague on the evening of 31 July to protest against a debate being held between representatives of the Third Separate Assault Brigade, a volunteer unit of the Army of Ukraine, and their compatriots. The debate was held at the X10 theater in Charvátova Street.
The protest was monitored by an anti-conflict team and other police officers. The brigade members wanted to speak with Ukrainians living abroad about the development of the ongoing war and the future of Ukraine.
Those opposed to the debate labelled it a “Nazi” event. Veterans of the Azov Regiment formed the Third Separate Assault Brigade in 2022, which has a very controversial past because it originally included the supporters of neo-Nazi groups.
The regiment later got rid of its neo-Nazi members. It continues to be depicted as a “Nazi” organization by the Kremlin, though, which is justifying its invasion of Ukraine as fighting “Nazism”.
The protesters in Prague waved Czech flags and one flag of the former USSR. Representatives of the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM) were there with signs reading “KSČM against Fascism”.
According to one speaker at the demonstration, “a bunch of professional murderers are holding a debate in that theater”. Another speaker alleged that in the Czech Republic “We have political trials, we have political prisoners.”
“Shame on the Government!” demonstrators chanted. Some were wearing caps or t-shirts inscribed with “Ortel“, the name of a xenophobic music group fronted by Tomáš Hnídek, who began his performing career in the neo-Nazi band Conflict 88.
The number “88” is code in the neo-Nazi scene for the famous Nazi geeting during which the right arm is raised in a salute. “Between the speeches, the pro-Russian fighters against these alleged Ukrainian neo-Nazis were being entertained by musical accompaniment. A song by Daniel Landa was also heard from the loudspeakers, who at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s was the singer and frontman of the skinhead band Orlík,” analyst Roman Máca commented on social media.
Just after 19:30, a speaker called on those present to move several dozen meters away from where they were standing, after which the police summoned the crowd to do so. The speaker said a “suspicious object” had been found at the scene.
Police then forced those present to move down to Národní třída, some 200 meters away. The protesters shouted “Gestapo!” at the police officers and pointed out that the police had allowed the debate in the theater to continue.
News server Novinky.cz reported police spokesperson Jan Rybanský as saying a dummy explosive device had been found in a bag on the street – wires and electronics taped up in a shoebox. The Czech News Agency (ČTK) reported that the chair of the Czech State Office for Nuclear Safety, Dana Drábová, attended the debate.
Demonstrators shouted that Drábová was disseminating “Ukro-Nazi” slogans. A man carrying a Ukrainian flag was also targeted with chants and shouts of disagreement.
Counter-protesters were also at the scene. “Shame on the communists!” they shouted.
Shortly before 21:00 the organizers of the main protest ended their gathering and just a few small groups of people remained on the scene.
The neo-Nazi past of Azov and its subsequent purge
The Third Separate Assault Brigade was formed in late 2022 by veterans of the Azov Regiment and falls under the ground forces of the Ukrainian Army. The Azov Regiment was originally formed as a volunteer unit in 2014 to fight Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.
At that time the unit mainly drew its fighters from neo-Nazi circles. The Neo-Nazis who fought in its ranks were not just from Ukraine, but also from Denmark, Finland, Italy, Russia, Spain and Sweden.
Lawmakers in the lower house of the US Congress proposed in 2015, 2016 and 2017 that U.S. aid to Ukraine not go to the Azov Battalion, but the provision was stripped out before the budget authorization was adopted each year. The ban was passed in 2018.
The founder of the Azov Battalion was Ukrainian far-right radical Andriy Bileckyi, head of the Social Nationalist Association, which was loosely affiliated with Ukraine’s neo-Nazi Right Sector. Bileckyi was known by the battle nickname “White Leader”.
After the start of the large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the brigade sought to change its public image by shedding controversy over its ultranationalist origins. The purge appears to have succeeded, and the United States lifted its arms ban in June 2024.
Azov soldiers played a key role in the defence of Mariupol in the spring of 2022, where they fought for many weeks against Russia and against the odds, surrounded and short of ammunition. Their resistance has become a symbol of Ukrainian resilience in the war against Russia.
Hundreds of Azov members have remained in Russian captivity for two years now. Wednesday’s meeting in Prague was part of the brigade’s “European tour”; last week its members visited Poland.
Similar events were scheduled for the brigade in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. The organizers cancelled those plans, however.
Security reasons were given as the explanation for those cancellations. On Friday, 2 August, members of the brigade should travel to Vilnius, Lithuania.
