The Brno-based Muslim association Libertas Independent Agency will file a complaint against recent statements by Milos Zeman, chairman of the Party of Citizens’ Rights of Milos Zeman (SPOZ), that it considers venomous and xenophobic, the association says in a press release for CTK.
The Muslims were angered by Zeman’s statement quoted in an article posted on the Prvnizrpavy.cz server.
According to the server, Zeman said the spreading Islam is a threat to Europe.
“The fundamental conflict of the 21st century will be a conflict between Euro-American and Islamic civilisations, between the religion of love and the religion of hatred,” Zeman said allegedly.
“We think the statement by Milos Zeman has the characteristic features of the criminal offence of instigating hatred of a group of inhabitants, scare-mongering and defamation of a nation, ethnic group, race and conviction,” says the press release.
It is signed by two association deputy chairmen, Lukas Lhotan and Ondrej Adamik.
The Brno Muslims fear that if the SPOZ succeeded in the May 28-29 elections, the Czech Republic would attract negative attention abroad.
“Due to the policy Milos Zeman has preached for a long time, our country could get into international isolation and it would probably lost the image of a tolerant and plurality country in the eyes of the foreign public,” the association writes.
The party of Milos Zeman, former prime minister and former chairman of the Czech Social Democratic Party (CSSD), is an extra-parliamentary party that was founded last year. It does not have a great chance of getting into parliament according to public opinion polls.