September 09, 2005
The leader of a small nationalist political party has been beaten up in the Slovak capital of Bratislava. Marian Kotleba who is known for his anti-minority and anti-Jewish statements was attacked, along with his mother, by three men with baseball bats on Wednesday. Kotleba, a high school teacher who is addressed as 'the leader' by his party members, has in recent weeks been criticized by the local media for his public and hateful comments about Gypsies and his glorification of the wartime Slovak state, which deported tens of thousands of the country's Jews to Nazi-run concentration camps, where most of them were killed. Slovak authorities are also looking into the party's activities as several complaints have been raised against it. It is not clear how many members and supporters the party has. It is not represented in parliament.
