THE CZECH Republic has banned the far-right Workers’ Party, amid signs that nationalist groups are growing in size and influence across central and eastern Europe.
The Czech high administrative court found that the Workers’ Party was racist, homophobic and xenophobic and had links to Czech neo-Nazi organisations. The court also accepted the government’s claim that the party’s policies and symbols had Nazi origins.
“This ruling needs to be understood as a preventive one, to maintain the constitutional and democratic order in the future,” judge Vojtech Simicek was quoted as saying in his verdict.
“Society must realise that the causes for the Workers’ Party lie deeply within itself. The Workers’ Party is not an external enemy to society, but one of its faces.”
The Workers’ Party vowed to appeal the decision. It claims it is being persecuted for voicing hardline opinions that are uncomfortable to the establishment but are widely held in Czech society, particularly in poor and crime-ridden areas with large Roma communities.
Members of the party clashed with police in the provincial town of Litvinov in late 2008 when they were prevented from marching through a Roma district, and they have been blamed for stoking anti-Gypsy sentiment across the country.
Canada reintroduced visas for Czechs last year after experiencing a surge in applications for political asylum from Czech Gypsies.
The Workers’ Party won barely 1 per cent of votes in last year’s elections to the European Parliament, and was not expected to enter the Czech parliament in May’s general election.
Far-right parties from Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria did win seats in the European Parliament. Polls suggest Hungary’s nationalist Jobbik party could win 14 per cent of votes in an April general election, placing it third behind the right-wing opposition Fidesz party and the ruling Socialists.
Hungary has banned the Hungarian Guard, a far-right militia group linked to Jobbik, but it continues to function and is accused of inciting deadly attacks on Roma. The group insists it is not racist or violent and is merely defending “Hungarian values”.
