Police come under criticism for failure to intervene at neo-Nazi concert

Czech police, investigating whether an attendee at a skinhead concert near the south Bohemian town of Tabor on Saturday broke the law by doing the Hitler salute, have come under criticism from the human rights group Tolerance as well as Czech Senator Jaromir Stetina. The non-government organisation and the senator have said that police should have intervened to prevent neo-Nazis from gathering. A Tolerance representative has said that while lyrics sung at the concert were not explicitly racist, they contained a racist subtext. Around 250 skinheads attended the site on Saturday, while some 150 police were on hand monitoring. Officers reportedly intervened only occasionally to check attendees' identities but say they did not witness any breaking of the law. They were not asked, for example, by the town to step in.

Author: Jan Velinger