Street Politics or Politicians in the Streets? The Phenomenon of Mob Leaders during the Prague Riots of 1897
Abstract
The December riots of 1897 were the biggest in Prague since the 1848 revolution. As they went on, the press and politicians began wondering who was actually behind their outbreak.
The notion spread among the population and the media of a deeper level of organisation of the demonstrations by members of the National Liberal Party. One of the accusations was that although they did not directly participate in the destruction, they provoked attacks on Germans and Jews with articles in the political press.
They themselves did not do anything to calm the riots, although there were exceptions. The second form of the mob leader is more specific.
It represents a better-dressed person, an agitator who leads people to attack and destroy, but who himself keeps his hands clean. The Young Czechs, however, refuted any guilt for causing the attacks and leading the mob.