We do not want Islam in the Czech Republic

We do not want Islam in the Czech Republic (Czech: Islám v České republice nechceme, IVČRN) is a Czech anti-Islam organisation led by Martin Konvička, founded in 2009.^[1] The Czech Ministry of the Interior has described the initiative as an Islamophobic populist entity which is attempting to take advantage of the rise of anti-Islamic and anti-immigrant sentiment. According to the ministry, it intentionally uses information that is taken out of context, misinterpreted or generalised.^[2][3]

We do not want Islam in the Czech Republic

Founded	2009
Focus	Anti-Islam campaigning
Location	Czech Republic
Key people	Martin Konvička
Website	ivcrn.cz

History

Activists for IVČRN, including Martin Konvička in 2015

Demonstration by Bloc Against Islam and Dawn – National Coalition in 2015

IVČRN was created in July 2009 as a discussion community on Facebook, with a few hundred users. According to the Ministry of the Interior, the platform was created as a transformation of the pre-existing Czech Defence League (CzDL), based on the English Defence League, which was assessed as extremist and subsequently disappeared.^[3] The group draws ideologically from the counter-jihad movement.^[4]

The group's Facebook page has been banned several times, first in 2014 when it had 162,000 followers, and then in 2016, when it had 73,000 followers.^[5][6] The original page with 162,000 followers was restored in December 2016.^[7]

Bloc Against Islam

On 17 November 2015, the closely associated group Bloc Against Islam (Czech: Blok proti islámu, BPI) held a rally that was attended by President Miloš Zeman, who also spoke at the event.^[8]

On 6 February 2016, thousands of people attended a demonstration co-organised by IVČRN, the German group Pegida, and the political party Dawn – National Coalition, which was the largest anti-Islam demonstration held in the Czech Republic.^[9]

References

1. Čulík, Jan (21 August 2015). "Prague springs to intolerance". Politico.
2. "Extremismus. Souhrnná situační zpráva 3.čtvrtletí roku 2015" (in Czech). Czech Ministry of the Interior. 2015.
3. "Extremismus. Souhrnná situační zpráva 4.čtvrtletí roku 2015" (in Czech). Czech Ministry of the Interior. 2015.
4. Nissen, Anita (2022). Europeanisation of the Contemporary Far Right: Generation Identity and Fortress Europe. Routledge. p. 100. ISBN 9781000547085.
5. "Facebook opět zakázal antiislámskou stránku. Češce hrozili za pomoc Afghánci smrtí". Lidovky.cz (in Czech). 9 December 2016.
6. "Facebook zablokoval stránku Islám v České republice nechceme, šíří nenávist i xenofobii". Aktuálně.cz (in Czech). 1 November 2016.
7. Ryšavý, Zdeněk (12 December 2016). "Facebook obnovil původní stránku Islám v České republice nechceme se 160 tisíci fanoušky". Romea.cz (in Czech).
8. "Ať žije Zeman, skandoval dav. Prezident si na akci odpůrců islámu užil potlesk a ovace". Lidovky.cz (in Czech). November 17, 2015.
9. "My jsme tady doma, skandovali demonstranti proti islámu před Hradem". iDNES.cz (in Czech). 6 February 2016.