WAY DOWN SOUTH IN WENCESLAS SQUARE IT WAS ALL RATHER EMBARRASSING . 
JUST AS RADIO PRAGUE WAS GLEEFULLY REPORTING THE BATTLE IN BIRMINGHAM, 
RACE RIOTS EXPLODED IN THE HEART OF THE COMMUNIST CAPITAL . 
IT BEGAN AT MIDDAY NEAR THE AMBASSADOR HOTEL JUST OFF ANCIENT 
WENCESLAS SQUARE . TWO FOREIGN STUDENTS ONE FROM AFRICA AND ANOTHER 
FROM THE MIDDLE EAST WERE OUT FOR A STROLL WHEN THEY 
WERE ATTACKED BY A GANG OF 300 CZECHS WHO PUMMELED THEM 
WITH FISTS AND BUNCHES OF KEYS WHILE POLICE STOOD IDLY BY 
. THAT EVENING ANOTHER GROUP OF YOUNG CZECHS BEGAN SWINGING AT 
AN AFRICAN WALKING WITH HIS CZECH WIFE, THEN PICKED A FIGHT 
WITH TWO MORE AFRICANS WHO HAD BEEN ARGUING WITH SOME CUBANS 
. THIS TIME POLICE BROKE UP THE BRAWLS, BUT NOT BEFORE 
A FOURTH INCIDENT OCCURRED . AN AFRICAN DIPLOMAT HAD PARKED HIS 
CAR TO INVESTIGATE THE TROUBLE ; HE RETURNED TO DISCOVER THAT 
ALL FOUR OF HIS TIRES WERE SLASHED . FIVE DAYS LATER, 
WHEN RADIO PRAGUE FINALLY GOT AROUND TO REPORTING THE ANTIAFRICAN OUTBURSTS, 
THE REGIME GLOSSED OVER THE INCIDENT AS THE WORK OF DRUNKEN 
HOOLIGANS . IT WAS MORE SERIOUS THAN THAT . FOR MONTHS, 
CZECHS HAVE COMPLAINED THAT SUBSIDIES TO UNDERDEVELOPED COUNTRIES, INCLUDING DIRECT OUTLAYS 
TO SCHOLARSHIP STUDENTS, ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR CZECHOSLOVAKIA'S WORSENING LIVING STANDARD . 
AND THE BLACK STUDENTS IN PRAGUE SOMETIMES SEEM TO WALK AWAY 
WITH THE PRETTIEST GIRLS . THE ARRIVAL OF AFRICANS HAS CREATED 
RACE PROBLEMS IN SEVERAL PARTS OF THE COMMUNIST WORLD . THERE 
WAS TROUBLE IN PRAGUE LAST YEAR . AT MOSCOW'S PATRICE LUMUMBA 
UNIVERSITY, 500 AFRICAN STUDENTS ARE CAREFULLY SEGREGATED FROM RUSSIANS ; THREE 
MONTHS AGO IN SOFIA, 600 CLUB-WIELDING BULGARIAN COPS CRACKED THE SKULLS 
OF AFRICAN STUDENTS WHO WERE DEMONSTRATING FOR NOTHING MORE THAN THEIR 
OWN CAMPUS ORGANIZATION . 