Battle over neo-Nazi march in Prague continues

Czech far-right extremists said Wednesday they will march through the city's Jewish Quarter on the anniversary of the Kristallnacht pogrom unless the city allows them to protest on an alternate route, they said in a statement on their website. The city has so far banned all marches registered in central Prague for November 10, the 69th anniversary of Kristallnacht, by the Young National Democrats, a group whose founders are known to the police as supporters of neo-Nazi movements in the Czech Republic. In August, the group registered its November 10 march against Czech participation in the Iraq war to pass through the city's Jewish Quarter. "In reality, Israel and the American-Israeli lobby are behind the war in Iraq. Therefore there is not a better place here for such a demonstration," the group, which communicates with reporters only via email, told the Respekt weekly. The extremists claimed not to have initially realized that their protest was to take place on the anniversary of the pogrom in which Nazis killed dozens of Jews, destroyed thousands of their homes, synagogues and businesses across Germany, and dispatched some 30,000 Jews to concentration camps. The news of the planned march has caused an uproar among Prague Jews and Czech politicians of all stripes, sparking a battle between the extremists and the city over banning the march. Prague Jews meanwhile vowed to prevent the neo-Nazis from marching through the Jewish Quarter by holding a religious gathering there in honour of the Kristallnacht victims.