January 10, 2006
Prosecutors in northern Serbia have charged 18 neo-Nazis accused of disrupting an anti-fascist gathering two months ago. The prosecution accuses the men of "inciting ethnic, racial and religious hatred and intolerance," when they burst into a seminar at the Novi Sad state university and harassed and slapped participants. The "Tanjug" news agency reported that a trial date would be set later. The 18, mostly young men and members of the neo-Nazi group known as Nacionalni Stroj (National Order), face up to eight years in prison. Armed with crowbars and dressed in black, they made Nazi salutes as they disrupted a meeting organized to mark the anniversary of the infamous 1938 "Kristallnacht" in Germany when Nazis attacked Jewish homes and businesses. The neo-Nazis fled the scene, but police later detained and interrogated them. No one was injured. The incident in Novi Sad, capital of the northern Vojvodina province, has increased tensions there. The multi-ethnic Vojvodina region was mostly spared of the 1990s conflicts that raged in the Balkans but has seen a rise in crimes by nationalists and extremism, including anti-Semitism.
