BY DAG TIRSÉN
ROSKILDE, Denmark - One thousand protesters from Denmark, Germany, Sweden, and Norway gathered here August 16 to protest a march, held for the third year in a row, commemorating Nazi leader Rudolf Hess, who committed suicide 10 years ago in Spandau prison in Berlin. Eight hundred cops in riot gear were deployed to protect about 140 fascists. At the last minute, the Nazis changed their minds and instead went to nearby Koge to held their march.

The cops kept the counter mobilization surrounded and would not let the protesters enter the railway station to follow the rightists. When the crowd finally was allowed into the station, no train in the direction of Koge was allowed to stop until sufficient time had elapsed for the Nazi rally to finish. The fascists were granted a new permit to demonstrate on the spot by the cops, and marched along the central street of Koge, chanting, "Heil Hitler." Speaking at the central square was Danish nazi leader Jonni Hansen, and a nazi leader from Holland.

Roskilde authorities had denied the rightists a permit, but at the last minute the Danish minister of justice approved the rally. The local chief of police in Roskilde, Uffe Kornerup, went out on a scare campaign and told "the ordinary people of Roskilde" to leave town during the nazi demonstration. The cops arrested 44 people on the day of the march, almost all of them antifascist protesters. Many was beaten and teargassed.

This reporter traveled to Denmark on a bus from Stockholm, together with more than 30 protesters from Sweden. The bus was stopped by cops at the border, who asked whether we planned to go to Roskilde. All passengers had to show identity cards, and the police wrote down our names and identity numbers.

Some 440 Nazis were arrested in Germany August 16, where their demonstrations were banned, along with some antifascist protesters.

The ultrarightist Sweden Democrats, who had dropped out of sight for a while, started holding public meetings around Stockholm during the summer. The group's meetings are centered around the theme of scapegoating immigrants. One of the meetings was in the center of Sodertalje, where many immigrants work at the big Scania truck plant. Another was held on the Rudolf Hess day in the center of Stockholm.

Meanwhile, the main window of the Pathfinder bookstore in Stockholm was smashed at 2:30 a.m. August 15. Someone carried a large paving brick half a block from a work site and hurled through the window. Bookstore owner Birgitta Isacsson issued a statement headlined "Defend free speech!" In it, Isacsson condemned the attack and urged all supporters of democratic rights to protest it. The statement, sent to political organizations and supporters of the bookstore, also appealed for contributions to cover the $600 cost of replacing the window.  
 
 
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