Black Hundreds Host Calm 'Creative Evening'

Apart from a scuffle with a rival group of young neo-fascists in the lobby of Moscow's Barrikady movie theater, a "creative evening" organized by the ultranationalist anti-semitic Black Hundred newspaper passed without incident.Over 300 supporters of the Black Hundred society, most of whom took the trouble to dress in black, attended the gathering. It was held to mark the 53rd anniversary of the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, raise funds for the newspaper and to discuss the latest threats to the Motherland from internal enemies, freemasons and, of course, the Zionist conspiracy."Efforts are being made all the time to feed us various forms of masonic philosophy, even though they call it Russian," said Alexander Shtilmark, the society's leader. "That way, we'll keep electing sexual perverts or Shalom activists to the presidency."It was not clear to which category he believed the present incumbent belonged.He then issued an angry diatribe against other political groups of all colors and dissociated the Black Hundred from all of them. He dismissed Vladimir Zhirinovsky as a "servant of masonry" and denounced the Communist Party as a typical masonic organization.The evening was briefly interrupted by the arrival of a group of young neo-fascists, mostly around the age of 20 and wearing dark sunglasses. As they were being escorted out of the hall by the Black Hundred's security squad, the youths started a fight in the downstairs lobby and smashed the theater's glass doors. But they were soon overrun and quickly retreated.The society of the Black Hundred dates back to the turn of the century, when it was associated directly with open anti-semitism and Jewish pogroms. According to historians, Tsar Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra were known to sympathize with the Black Hundred and finance its activities.