On the 8th of May 2008 Leninskiy district court sentenced 6 antifascists who took part in attacking the meeting that was organised by the Movement Against Illegal Immigration (DPNI) on Pionerskaya square in St.Petersburg in September 2006.
The antifascists were accused of hooliganism (article 213, part 2 of Russian criminal code). The main person accused, for whom the prosecutor demanded 6 years(!) of prison sentence, and 2 of his comrades got 1 year of suspended sentence each. 2 other accused got 6 months of suspended sentence and the sixth was sentenced to 6 months of public works (also suspended).

The meeting on the 17th of September 2006 was devoted to the events in Kondopoga town in Karelia in which DPNI took an active part escalating an ethnic conflict. After that a criminal case against DPNI leader A. Potkin (Belov) was started – the authorities accused him of inciting national hatred. DPNI is one of the largest nationalist organisations in Russia. They pretend to be a respectable civil movement using only constitutional methods of political struggle, but in fact DPNI often promotes xenophobic views and intolerance. DPNI is also known for its connections to criminal neonazi groups which are responsible for murders of foreigners and of antifascists.

Antifascists decided to oppose nazis, they were not going to tolerate nazis who rage on the streets of Petersburg and spread their ideas. Notwithstanding that nazis and the press claimed the attackers didn’t use knives, they were not going to kill or seriously injure anybody. At the same time it turned out that the ‘peaceful’ nationalists at the meeting had knifes and even cleaver which they used to defend themselves. The aim of the attack was to disrupt the meeting, to disperse nationalists - and that aim was reached.

We are sure that it is impossible to stop neonazis by nonviolent methods only in times when hundreds of people become their victims. At the same time we realize that opposing nazis is not only violence in response, but also articles in the press that are unmasking their lies, educational programs, graffiti, peaceful street actions, etc. All the history of antifascist movement shows that it can be successful only when it uses different tactics of resistance, including outright physical confrontation.

Antifascist information group
e-mail: antifa_spb (at) riseup.net
mobile: +7 981 7452556