Czech Anarchists win court case
Three Prague anarchists have won a pret the right of citizens to assembly in court case protesting the violent dissolu- the case of antifaschist and anarchist tion of an unauthorised demonstration, writes Jean Dupont. On October 15,
Prague municipal court decided that the
District Council for Prague 1 broke the law on 30 August 1996 by using police to dissolving a demonstration called by
Autonomie magazine.
"Not fulfilling the obligation of announcing a demonstration to the authorities is not a justification for dissolving it," ruled
Judge Pechova. The court also agreed with the objectors' claim that until the police took action, the demonstration was peaceful. The police intervention resulted in a number of disturbances amongst the demonstrators, including a few camouflaged antifascists throwing paving stones at the police officers, some of whom were injured
Ondrei Cakl, one of the three plaintiffs, said that the main point of the objection was to "point out how the autorities interactions... This is not the only time that this happened. At any action taken by autonomous people, they always encounter state repression."
The demonstration on 30 August 1996 was called by Autonomie magazine, to protest the judicial harrassment of anarchist groups in Germany. Speakers from Czech Antifascist Action (AFA) and the Trotskyist group Socialisticka Solidarita demanded a "tougher attitude" by Czeci state institutions towards fascist activity.
Earlier that month, seventeen members of the German group Autonome Antifa had been fined 3000 Dm for "membership of a criminal organisation." The group had organised the physical disruption of neo-nazi meetings. Source: PIA, PO Box 176, 110 01 Praha 01, Czech Republic. <anfocz@usa.net>. www.geocities.com/
Should they be seen to fail on the question of unity, then the gradual erosion of the party's support since the Haughey era could become a flood
The Labour Party was the big loser in this campaign. Its candidate, Adi Roche, a soft focus do-gooder standing on a platform of good intentions, was designed to repeat their "success" with Mary Robinson in 1990.
She made little impact, apart from a few cringe-making remarks on opening the Presidential residence for music sessions. For most Labour supporters such sentimental blather couldn't blot out the memory of Labour's participation alongside the conservatives of Fine Gael in the "Rainbow" coalition.
From a historically high vote of 19% and 33 seats, Labour are back in opposition with 10% and 17 seats. To make things worse, the defeat in the Presidential election has ruined their hopes of supplanting Fianna Fail as the main opposition party. * Source: reprinted from Socialist Outlook
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