The police detained five people during a rally against the Islamization of the Czech Republic, organized by the ultra-right Workers’ Party of Social Justice (DSSS) in Teplice, police spokesman Dan Vítek has told the Czech News Agency (ČTK).
During the march through the town, about 100 DSSS supporters got into a conflict with about the same number of leftist anarchists.
However, policemen prevented a direct clash between the two groups.
Police detained two men who had thrown plastic bottles with beer at DSSS chairman Tomáš Vandas.
“They were detained on suspicion of committing a misdemeanor against social cohesion and a failure to obey the warning of a public official,” Vítek said.
The anarchists did not comment on Islam. They only expressed animosity toward Vandas.
Before the march, police had detained two supporters of the ultra-right on suspicion of misdemeanor. One did not obey a police warning, and the other one had a banner with defamatory expressions.
One man was also brought to a police station to check his identity.
Before the demonstration, police seized several weapons, such as a machete, old air pistols, an ax, knives and firework rockets.
The DSSS organized the event allegedly in reaction to the escalating problem of Islamization of the Czech Republic. The party claims the trend of “conspicuous Islamization” poses a future threat.
In the last census in 2011, some 3,358 Muslims professed Islam as their religion. The Czech Republic has a population of 10.5 million.
The DSSS also held the rally in Teplice because people in this spa town’s center have been complaining about Arabs of late. They say hundreds of Arab spa clients picnicking in the park produce heaps of waste and make noise in the night hours.
This is why the Teplice Town Hall along with the police and representatives of the Muslim community are solving the problem. The Teplice assembly wants to find out whether the town can adopt a decree banning face covering in the town.
The DSSS is a successor to the outlawed Workers’ Party (DS). A court dissolved it in February 2010, complying with the government proposal, saying the DS is extremist and poses a threat to democracy.