Nazis Flee In Panic Antifas And Residents In The Danish City Of Roskilde Successfully Protested The Nazi Scene's "Rudolph Hess Memorial March" By Niels Rohleder Masked, black-clad Danes won the street battle on Saturday in the Danish city of Roskilde near Copenhagen. But it was actually the normal residents of Roskilde who finally drove off the 140 neo-Nazis from Germany, Great Britain, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. Until recently, the American neo-Nazi Gary Lauck had been in prison in Roskilde, awaiting a decision concerning his extradition to Germany. When it became known last weekend that the Danish National-Socialist Movement (DNSB) were planning a "Rudolph Hess Memorial March" in Roskilde, the local council and media were very upset. It's not easy to ban a demonstration in Denmark, so the city's social democratic mayor Henrik Christiansen called on residents to stay in their homes and to avoid a confrontation with the neo-Nazis. Copenhagen's antifa scene quickly split into two sides: some wanted a "confrontation with the fascists on the streets", while others wanted to cooperate with the police and demonstrate away from the neo-Nazis. The police tactic on Saturday evening was to prevent confrontations and to protect the small group of neo-Nazis from the more numerous counter-demonstrators. They were only partially successful. By 11:30 AM, masked youths - mostly Danes, but also some Swedes and Germans as well - carried a banner reading "No Fucking Fascists!" and blockaded the entrance to the museum parking lot where the Nazi demonstration was supposed to start from. The police arrested the counter-demonstrators, and by 1:15 PM the blockade had been cleared. Shortly before 2:00 PM, a Danish coach and a motorcade of primarily German vehicles drove by the museum. In the parking lot, which was now no longer blockaded, Nazi demonstrators formed ranks "behind the Danish flags", as one slogan read. The 140 mostly young men formed straight lines. At the front was the Danish national flag, one with letters DNSB and a swastika, as was used by the DNSAP Nazi party in Denmark in the 1930s and 40s: a white swastika on a red background. As Roskilde residents stood nearby and shouted insults, the "Rudolph Hess Memorial March" slowly got underway, led by two "Fuehrer", DNSB leader Jonni Hansen and the head of the banned Free German Workers Party (FAP), Friedhelm Busse. Other known foreign neo-Nazis were also present, such as Christian Worch from Hamburg and Charlie Sargent from Great Britain. But the flag-waving, drum-banging Nazis did not reach their goal. At one street crossing, a few hundred meters from the prison, masked counter-demonstrators pelted them with rocks and fireworks. The Nazis threw a few stones back, and then the police dispersed the anti-fascists. But the Nazi demo was forced to come to an end. Despite looks of scorn from his followers, Jonni Hansen ordered the march to retreat. Back at the museum parking lot, local residents surrounded the hundred or so Nazis, who responded by throwing bottles at them - a mistake. "Into the harbour with them!" shouted some of the residents, and the Nazis fled in panic towards Roskilde's fjord. Only under heavy police protection could they make it back to their bus. At 3:30 PM, the bus, now with several smashed windows, pulled out of town. During the day, 61 people were arrested, 57 antifas and 4 Nazis. The latter weren't arrested because of their demonstration, but rather because they were driving a stolen car. (Translated from taz, 21.08.1995) Comments from ATS: Fascist mobilizations on August 17 in Europe for the so-called "Rudolph Hess Day" - the day when Hitler's former deputy did the world a favor and hung himself in a Berlin prison - seem to really be on the decline. Back in 1992, as many as 1,000 fascists marched to his grave site in Germany. In 1993, although banned from marching there, more than 400 German fascists marched defiantly through the small city of Fulda as police on the autobahn were arresting anti-fascists. Last year, there was a militant campaign aimed at confronting the major fascist organizers of the Hess marches. This campaign, called Aktion '94, was successfully organized by Germany's Anti-Fascist Action/Nation-Wide Organization (AA/BO). Preventing from holding actions in Germany, about 80 German neo-Nazis tried to rally outside the German embassy in Luxembourg, where they were quickly beaten to the ground and humiliated by local cops. This year, 1995, about 100 or so fascists were arrested in failed organizing attempts around Germany. But the "big action", partly organized in support of NSDAP/AO leader Gary Lauck, was supposed to take place in Denmark. Strategically, this made good sense for the Nazis. Denmark borders Germany, and nation- socialist ideas are not illegal there. This is why so much neo-Nazi literature, which is technically banned in Germany, can be printed in Denmark. Also, whereas German police can and often do ban marches and demonstrations, this is very difficult to do in Denmark. So the Nazis had a perfect opportunity to show their strength. And they did - or rather they showed their seeming lack of strength: a mere 140 participants, from all over Europe! This is a quite a change from the days when a thousand or more would gather to "honour" shit-for-brains Hess. Certainly, militant anti-fascist organizing has played a big role in this decline. In Roskilde, police had vowed to protect the Nazis and local social-democrats called for people to ignore the fascist parade (sound familiar? "just ignore the Klan rally..."). But that didn't stop autonomists and even angry local residents from going at it and beating the fascists off the streets. Way To Go Denmark Antifa! Attack The Fascists Wherever They Are!