Neo-Nazis allegedly brutally assault members of a German band after antifascist event in Prague, one has been hospitalized with serious injuries
- Jana Baudyšová and Gwendolyn Albert | Romea
- 10 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Prague Police are investigating the brutal assault of two members of the German band Abbruch in the late night hours of Friday, 1 May and the early morning hours of Saturday, 2 May after the Antifascist Action (AFA) Festival in Prague, Czech Republic. One musician was hospitalized with serious injuries.
According to festival organizers, a group of neo-Nazis were behind the assault. The band members are a couple performing under the stage names Alexa and Atze; they were attacked as they left the venue for their accommodation.
“On 1 May, after the end of the AFA fest in Prague, [Alexa and Atze] became the victims of a targeted assault by a neo-Nazi group, supporters of Filip ‘Central European’ Vávra. They were cornered on the bridge over the Vltava River; Atze was knocked to the ground and brutally beaten by several assailants. The attackers fled only after Atze was bleeding heavily and unconscious,” festival organizers posted to social media.
The assaulted musician was taken to a Prague hospital. According to information released by the band Abbruch and the festival organizers, he is now under the care of doctors in Berlin, Germany.
The victim suffered serious injuries to his nose and teeth, with one of his teeth said to be unsalvageable. He has difficulty speaking as a result of the attack.
News server Romea.cz has learned that the assailants recorded their attack on a mobile phone and published the footage on a Facebook profile called Good Night Left Side. They deleted it later.
A public fundraiser has been set up to help the assaulted musician. The AFA Festival organizers say they will send a larger financial donation themselves and will also provide other forms of aid.
The Prague Police are investigating the case. “Criminal proceedings are currently underway on suspicion of committing felony disorderly conduct. All of the persons who participated in this brawl are gradually being identified, and of course further actions will be taken. No one has been charged yet,” Czech news server Aktuálně.cz quoted Prague Police spokeswoman Eva Kropáčová as saying.
The incident was preceded by an antifascist demonstration for May Day in Prague that marched from Střelecký ostrov across Národní třída to Rašínovo nábřeží, and some participants then headed to Smíchov to the Subzero club, where the AFA Festival was taking place. The demonstration was supervised by police, including riot police and anti-conflict teams, due to the expected presence of the far right.
Disinformation: Czech politician alleged to have participated
Disinformation also spread on Czech social media that one of the participants in the AFA Festival was Ivan Bartoš, former chair of the Czech Pirate Party. A profile under the name Franta Kubásek posted a photo of a masked person and suggested that it was Bartoš.
“Other social media posts were also spread in the same vein drawing aggressive political conclusions from the poor-quality footage. Bartoš denied the claim and said that he had not been at the event,” reported the Manipulators (Manipulátoři.cz) news server, which drew attention to the entire matter.
“A specific politician cannot be credibly identified from such footage. It is not a photograph with clear identifying marks, a public record of Bartoš’s participation, or confirmation from the organizers. This is just speculation about a visual supplemented with a politically-motivated caption,” explains the news server Manipulátoři.cz.
“I am not at SubZero, I was with my son at the United Islands [music festival],” Bartoš responded on Facebook, attaching a photo from the event he did attend. “If I were to go to a demonstration against Nazism, I would of course not wear a mask.”
