Wiesenthal Centre to Czech Interior Minister: "Your Response to Litvinov Pogrom - A Test for Czech European Presidency"

SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTRE - EUROPE
66 rue Laugier - 75017 Paris
Tel. +33-147237637 - Fax: +33-147208401
e-mail: csweurope@gmail.com

Wiesenthal Centre to Czech Interior Minister: "Your Response to Litvinov Pogrom - A Test for Czech European Presidency"

In a letter to Czech Interior Minister, Dr Ivan Langer, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre's Director for International Relations, DrShimon Samuels, draw attention to last week's attempted pogrom against the Roma of Litvinov in Bohemia which was fended off by Czech police. Some 1,200 neo-Nazis of the Workers'Party descended on the town and, joined by several hundred local supporters, marched on the predominantly Roma neighbourhood of Janov. Some 300 males of the community were readyto defend their families with sticks.

Samuels noted that "riot police were reported to have discovered dozens ofneo-Nazi hidden weapons caches. Now, however, Prima TV -http://www.iprima.cz/index.php/plain_site/content/view/full/61229/(name)/date - has alleged that 'the attack was evidently led by professionals from the armedservices... people from the police or army were among the neo-Nazis...video of the street battles have noticed... explosives, flares and other military and police materiel. Thedistribution of forces also corresponded to military tactics.'"

The letter quoted the Prima TV reporter: "Well-organized fighting units of up to 20 people were (...) seen from this helicopterfootage, the units attacked simultaneously in several places... armed with military materiel, for example, V30 explosives which are used by the Czech Army and police duringtraining exercises."

Samuels pointed to a police officer who stated, "They were using (...) items not normally available on the commercial market."The report also named two Czech soldiers from the rapid reaction brigade, "who have participated in neo-Nazi demonstrations."

Celebrating the fact that "70 years after Kristallnacht and the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, and only two decades since theend of the Communist regime, a robustly democratic Czech Republic is about to preside over the European Union," the letter also lamented that, as "all Czechs are children orgrandchildren of the victims of totalitarianism - whether Communist or Nazi - it is inconceivable that, once again, in the Czech Lands, a minority group be targeted - this timethe Roma."

The Centre urged the Minister "to turn 'Litvinov' into a pedagogical, moral exercise in every school class, every police academy,every military unit throughout the Czech Republic."

"The heroism of the Prague Spring and the Velvet Revolution - which I personally witnessed - cannot be held hostage to jackbootsand the jeers of 'Sieg Heil'", concluded Samuels, suggesting that "Your response, Sir, to the Litvinov planned pogrom is a litmus test, and will set the tone in combating racismfor the Czech Presidency of the European Union."

For further information, please contact Shimon Samuels at +33.609.77.01.58.