On September 29, 2012, promoters of the far-right People’s Party Our Slovakia (Ľudová strana Naše Slovensko – LSNS) are planning an event to “clean up” the Romani settlement in Krásná Hôrka, Slovakia. The party is inviting people to attend the event through social networks and its website, claiming that more than 300 people might participate. Marián Kotleba, the party’s leading candidate, has requested the Slovak State Police to coordinate the event. Kotleba recently...
01.05.2017 Brno residents are not planning to block the 1 May march by the ultra-right convened by the Workers’ Youth this year. Instead, they are calling on people through Facebook to organize creative, entertaining, non-violent activities in the city center on 1 May under the slogan “You can’t salute the Nazis if you’re having a good time” (“Kdo si hraje, nehajluje”). In recent years, 1 May in Brno has repeatedly become a scene of neo-Nazi provocation...
Slovakia
V79: Antifa vs. March of nationalists and far right movements against refugees and Islam in Bratislava
Hundreds of people participated in a neo-Nazi demonstration and march on Saturday, 25 June 2016 in Bratislava, Slovakia. The demonstration was held “against the dictatorship of Brussels and for stopping the liquidation of Europe,” according to the organizers. There was also a concurrent assembly by those opposed to extremism. The event was attended by fewer people than last year, and some of the demonstrators were from the Czech Republic. Event was attended by approximately 500 people, but more...
Mühleberg (Switzerland), 4.9.2011. Sie führte 12 Männer und 14 Frauen weg, die beim Wasserkraftwerk die Strasse Richtung AKW versperrt hatten. Die Teilnehmenden leisteten beim Polizei-Einsatz nach übereinstimmenden Berichten von Aktivisten und Polizei keinen Widerstand. Die Aktivisten wurden nach einer Befragung wieder auf freien Fuss gesetzt. Sie werden verzeigt wegen Störung des öffentlichen Verkehrs, Ungehorsams gegen eine amtliche Verfügung und wegen Störung von Betrieben, die der...
On February 13th, 2013, more than 10,000 anti-fascist activists formed a human chain in downtown Dresden to protest against neo-Nazi marches on the 68th anniversary of the WWII bombing that destroyed the city. The demonstration marked a symbolic gesture against the right-wing extremist groups. Although thousands of participants formed a human chain, no clashes were reported with the participants of the planned parallel neo-Nazi rally. Approximately 3,000 police had been deployed earlier in the...
On 10 September 2021, during the 137th monthly commemoration of the Smolensk air disaster, activists from Lotna Brygada Opozycji (LBO) carried out a peaceful artistic intervention on Piłsudski Square in Warsaw. Next to the Pomnik Ofiar Tragedii Smoleńskiej (Monument to the Victims of the Smolensk Tragedy), they assembled a temporary structure made of cardboard boxes, referred to as the “Cardboard Stairs.” The installation, built from around thirty-five boxes and standing four metres high...
On March 16, 2013, around 200 people gathered at SNP Square in Bratislava to block the path of far-right extremists marching to the grave of Jozef Tiso. The blockade was personally supported by the city’s mayor, Milan Ftáčnik, who led the procession waiting for the arrival of the neo-Nazis. The office announced the blockade at the mayor’s request the day before the event. Ftáčnik emphasized the importance of expressing opposition to the far-right in a lawful and peaceful manner, so...
On October 13th, 2018, Lublin, a city in eastern Poland, held its first-ever LGBTQ+ Pride parade. The event, organized by Lublin Equality Parade, was intended to promote tolerance and acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community and celebrate diversity. Despite the parade being a peaceful demonstration, it was met with hostility from anti-LGBTQ+ protesters. An estimated 200 counter-demonstrators showed up to disrupt the celebrations, throwing bottles, bricks, and stones, as well as lighting flames at the...
On 18 June 2011, Budapest hosted one of its most significant LGBTQ events to date – the Queer Parade, organised as part of the 16th annual Budapest Pride festival. The march followed months of legal uncertainty after police attempted to block the planned extended route. A Budapest court later overturned the restriction, calling it a violation of the right to peaceful assembly and allowing the organisers, the Rainbow Mission Foundation, to proceed with the event. Thousands of participants...
In 2015, the Greek island of Lesbos became one of the main entry points into Europe for people fleeing war and persecution in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and beyond. Each day, dozens of overcrowded rubber boats arrived from the Turkish coast, carrying families who had risked everything to cross the Aegean Sea. Local residents and volunteers from across Europe quickly formed spontaneous aid networks to help the exhausted and traumatized newcomers. Among them was Catalan lifeguard Òscar Camps...
On April 13, 2019, the city of Gniezno, Poland’s first historical capital and symbolic “Cradle of Poland,” hosted its inaugural Equality March (Marsz Równości). The event marked a significant milestone for LGBTQ+ visibility in one of the country’s traditionally conservative regions. A Bold Move in the Cradle of Poland Organizing the Equality March in Gniezno carried immense symbolic weight. As the seat of Poland’s first Christian diocese and home to the Gniezno Cathedral, the city represents...
Legida, short for “Leipzig gegen die Islamisierung des Abendlandes” is a German right-wing populist movement that emerged as an offshoot of the more prominent Pegida movement. Legida, which is centered in the eastern city of Leipzig, was established in early 2015 and has been organizing weekly demonstrations since then. Like Pegida, Legida’s stated aim is to protest against what it sees as the Islamization of Germany and the perceived failure of the German government to...