Police gearing up for skinhead march

Police are gearing up for a skinhead march in the town of Svitava, east of Prague on Saturday. Some 200 far-right activists are expected to march through the town centre to protest against a court ruling that sent one of their mates to 17 years in prison last year for a racially motivated murder. Vlastimil Pechanec was found guilty of stabbing to death a Romany man with whom he’d got into a verbal conflict. Pechanec had been sentenced for violence previously. In the late 90s he spent two years in jail for attacking a young Romany with a knife. In May of 2001 he spent 14 months behind bars for attacking two anarchists. A number of skinhead rallies have already been held in protest against the most recent verdict.