Following a day of protests in Prague
both for an against migration in Europe, the autonomous social center
Klinika came under attack last night. During the days demonstrations,
a legal permitted march against “fortress Europe” organized in
cooperation with Klinika's collective came under attack more than
twenty fascists and neo-nazis. They came from behind the march as it
turned a corner attempting to cut it in half. As the peacefully
protestors in the march turned to protect themselves from the
fascists, an overwhelmed group of police offers intervened to stand
between the two groups. The neo-nazis began throwing whatever they
could find at the marchers; eventually rocks, sticks, and small
explosive devices. The marches defended themselves by returning the
projectiles and eventually the much larger numbers of the march
intimidated the attackers into retreat as they turned and ran away.
This group had been antagonizing people
throughout Prague earlier in the day. I personally saw the same group
earlier that day on public transport as I went to the rally. They
were very aggressive with riders, including accosting one young women
– trying to get her to come with them. She quickly left the train,
visibly shaken, upon which one of them – previously speaking Czech
– claimed she was a good “Deutsches Mensch.” I got off at the
same stop as them and while we went different ways, me towards the
beginning of our march, they went in a direction that would put them
exactly where they attacked the march from.
Upon completion of the march – which
included continuous antagonism from nationalist elements, and a few
more radical characters – people made their way back to Klinika at
differing speeds. When I arrived, there was a small group of people
there that had just learned that the Nazis were coming to attack
Klinika. We prepared as best we could but quickly came under attack.
We pepper sprayed them which kept them outside long enough for us to
lock and barricade the door. At this point they started throwing
rocks at the windows, shattering the old medical clinics windows with
ease. As we attempted to barricade the windows, glass and debris flew
everywhere. One member of the Klinika collective was hit, opening a
gash on his forehead. The rocks were followed by a lit flare sending
sparks and fire all over, but it got caught in the shards of the
multi-paned glass still jaggedly protruding from the window. We
quickly put this out as the rocks stopped flying.
At this point, things calmed down for a
few seconds and we were all able to check on others throughout the
building. However, the calm quickly ended as one collective member
yelled fire! Several of us ran into the hallway where the smoke was
coming from and found thick smoke throughout the entire atrium the
entire downstairs cafe area was full of smoke with flames leaping
from the window at the entrance. They had apparently broken the
windows there in the same fashion as upstairs and thrown another
incendiary devise in which lit the drapes on fire. We were still able
to put it out without much permanent damage to anything but the
windows and furniture.
This attack though, was a brazen and
coordinated attack on an autonomous social and community center in
the heart of Prague that offers a free non-commoditized space for
people of all ages and persuasions to take free language lessons,
have a quite beer, take their kids to nursery school, attend free
lectures, and even attend meditation classes. However, the center
has also been a hub for aid and relief for migrants, and therefore a
target within the migrant crisis gripping all of Europe. The center
acted as a staging area for relief goods going east and south for
newly arriving refugees from the war torn areas of the middle east
and central Asia. Given the days protest event against migration in
Europe, the escalating anti-muslim rhetoric and political climate it
foments, it could easily be said to be the rationale for the attack –
if there ever could be a rationale for such an irrational act of
violence; or better put, terrorism. For that is what this was,
definitionally, an act of terrorism. This group of fascists attacked
an innocent group of people providing a safe space for
the community and aid for those in need.
Whether you agree with Klinika's
politics or not, with migration or not, there is – and can be no –
justification for the same type of terrorist attack that these
fascists and their nationalist brethren portend to be against. If
you hate Muslim people because .000001% are engaged in radical
politics and use violence in an attempt to get their way, then how is
anyone to condone the same thing within our own midst? Again, whether
you agree with Klinika's politics or not, if this is a democracy and
everyone is entitled to their political beliefs, then you have to
respect Klinika's political efforts and condemn this brazen act of
violence against peaceful protestors and an autonomous community
center simply trying to help people. It is in peace that Klinika
exists, and here now – as 400 plus people come to show solidarity –
that Klinika survives and excels in defiance of violence and
terrorism.
