Obama reportedly horrified.

PRAGUE (AP) — They’re the Czech Republic’s fourth-largest political party, but the hardline Communists could soon be outlawed if the center-right government has its way.

It’s more than two decades since communism collapsed here, but the survivors and ideological heirs to the party that ruled from 1948 until the “Velvet Revolution” of 1989 are under increasing political pressure.

Petr Necas’ government has taken the first step toward a possible ban by asking the Interior Ministry to work on a legal complaint to make it happen. A study commissioned by a Senate committee compiled numerous complaints from lawmakers about their conduct.

The party, which is vehemently opposed to NATO, brands opponents “terrorists” and maintains friendly ties with the ruling Communists in Cuba, China and North Korea.

Unlike most other communist parties in the region that have joined the left-wing mainstream, the Czech party has maintained its hardline stance.

Supporters of the ban say it is a direct successor of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, whose members killed more than 240 political prisoners while thousands of other opponents died in prisons.