Czech rightist extremists have decided to cancel their planned march through the centre of Usti nad Labem to commemorate the April 1945 Allied bombing of the town, according to the information published at the webpage of Autonomous Nationalists.
They cancelled the march as the town centre was blocked by the group We Don't Want Neo-Nazis in Usti.
Usti police spokeswoman Veronika Hysplerova told CTK yesterday that rightist extremists' activities would be monitored and if they prepared any event, the police would be ready.
The far-right radicals organised a march through Usti last April.
At least 512 people died and hundreds of buildings were destroyed or damaged in the bombing of Usti, an industrial centre of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, by the U.S. airforce on April 17 and 19, 1945.
Extremists' opponents stressed that the march was to be held briefly before the anniversary of birthday of Adolf Hitler on April 20.
Last year the march of some 200 extremists was guarded by the police. They intervened against the leftist activists trying to thwart the march, which was also attended by neo-Nazis from Germany.
This time, the extremists' webpage only publishes an appeal that candles should be lit instead of the march.
A mass, commemorative meetings and cultural events will be held, and church bells are to ring on April 17 and 19, in the hours when bombs hit the town 65 years ago.
Prague Monitor
