PRAGUE (AFP-EJP)---Brandishing yellow stars and red flags, more
than a 1,000 people rallied in Prague’s old Jewish quarter Saturday to block an extreme-right march on the anniversary of a notorious Nazi-era pogrom against Jews.

Police sealed off the meeting point of the far-right Movement for Young Nationalist Democrats (MND) and arrested a number of skinheads, some armed with batons, truncheons and home-made molotov cocktails, various sources said.

Clashes between the protesters and isolated bands of skinheads broke out in several streets leaving at least six persons injured, witnesses said.

At least 80 people were arrested and police also seized weapons including a gas gun, axes and sticks at scattered sites as the extremists tried to reach the Jewish quarter, police spokesman Ladislav Bernasek said.

"The march (by the extreme right) was unacceptable," said Prague’s mayor Pavel Bem.

"We need to cultivate the national memory to avoid what happened in the past," he added. Bem said he had come to keep an eye on the situation and to express his indignation.

Jewish leaders and Czech politicians, including Czech president Vaclav Klaus, condemned the planned march as an insult to the victims of the Holocaust.

Hundreds of Jews and others gathered in the historic Jewish quarter to commemorate the Nazi pogrom, protest the march and be ready, if it went ahead, to prevent it from going through the Jewish quarter.

We are here "to protest attempts of neo-Nazi groups to publicly promote anti-Semitic, racist and other abusive ideas," said Jiri Danicek, head of the Czech Federation of Jewish communities.

The MND march, officially to protest the Czech military presence in Iraq, was banned after a series of court judgements, but the neo-Nazis nevertheless maintained their call for a demonstration.

They argued the authorities had offered them no alternative routes and that they had a right to express their political views.

More than 1,500 armed police officers sealed off the Jewish quarter, in some cases blocking preventing the passage of counter-demonstrators.

On November 10, 1938 Nazis across Germany and in parts of Austria ransacked Jewish homes, shops and synagogues and killed more than 100 Jews.

The pogrom became known as "Kristallnacht" or Night of Broken Glass because of the number of windows smashed.

The counter-demonstrations organized by civic and religious groups marked a departure for the Czech Republic, where public protests are rare and neo-Nazi rallies have never drawn much emotion.

Yellow stars

Some of the counter-demonstrators wore the yellow stars of David that Jews were forced to wear during the Nazi era.

"Never Again," proclaimed several signs in front of one of Prague’s
synagogues, near a museum dedicated to the memory of the more than 77,000 Jewish victims of the Nazi genocide from former Czechoslovakia.

Anti-nationalist demonstrators protest against the neo-Nazis' march in historical Jewish Quarter, 10 November 2007, in downtown Prague. AFP Copyright 2007

"I came because I don’t like these idiots with their shaved heads," said one 17-year-old teenager, who identified herself as Vera, a star sewn on her coat.

"I am neither Jewish nor anarchist, nor I don’t know what, I am a normal girl and I live in a normal country."

Czech authorities had ordered tighter border controls after press reports suggested neo-Nazis from neighbouring countries might travel to Prague for the march.

Three busloads of far-right supporters from Germany were spotted at the border where Czech police dispatched an escort to check their final destination, the country’s CTK news agency reported.

On Friday, leading Czech tour operators warned tourists to avoid central Prague and said organised tours would not venture into the area Saturday.

A number of curious tourists were nevertheless on hand to view the
demonstrations.

"We came here to show our support for the Czech Jewish community, why we’re against all these anti-Semitism and neo-Nazis," said Allan Silverman, 61, from Huntington Beach, California, who was visiting Prague with his wife Barbara and learned about the gathering.

"They’re picking a very holy day, a very sad day in Jewish history and we fell we need to support the Czech community against anti-Semitism and neo-Nazism."