Ceske Budejovice - Czech police said that it was not possible to prevent the racial riots that shocked the capital of the South Bohemian Region on Saturday 29 June. The organizers of the two competing demonstrations allegedly complied with all requirements of the law on assembly and did not give any indication that their events could turn violent.
"Similar meetings can be banned in advance, but such a ban must comply with the law on assembly. We monitored Facebook, the communication between the organizers, we consulted with experts, but we did not get a single piece of information indicating that the meeting would not be peaceful," said police officer Martin Soucek.
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Some 40 people were detained after the street battles in the 100,000 inhabitant city, seven have been charged with a criminal offense, the rest are accused of a misdemeanor. Several of the arrested are also suspected of extremism.
South Bohemia police officer Radomir Herman said that the Saturday demonstration that turned violent was called in response to an incident from June 21, in which two children and eventually several adults fought in a playground in a socially-excluded area in Ceske Budejovice's Maj residential district, a place of frequent racial tension.
A meeting of members of the local Roma community and their sympathizers took place in the Maj neighborhood, while some 500 far-right protesters from Ceske Budejovice and other Czech cities met in Premysl Otakar II Square. After the latter demonstration ended at 5 PM, some of its participants moved to Maj where they clashed with police. Police had to use rubber bullets, tear gas and stun grenades to disperse them.
"I consider the (police) action a clear and demonstrable success," said Herman, explaining that his men managed to separate the two warring groups.
Soucek also said that the mere fact that the far-right demonstration moved from its original place was not a sufficient reason to intervene for the police forces.
