Thousands of Czech citizens demonstrated this Saturday (September 16, 2023) in the central Wenceslas Square in Prague against the country’s government, which they blame for the significant increase in the cost of living. “Today we took another step to remove the stone that is the government of Mr. (Prime Minister Petr) Fiala,” PRO leader Jindrich Raichl told the crowd.
The new extra-parliamentary party PRO (Právo Respect Odbornos/Right to Respect Existence) called for the demonstration to demand the resignation of the ruling center-right coalition. “They are agents of foreign powers, people following orders, ordinary puppets. And I don’t want a puppet government anymore,” Raichl added, also saying that the Czech Republic should reject any attempt by Ukraine to join NATO. The demonstrators demanded action against the sharp rise in prices and accused the executive of caring more about the Russian invasion of Ukraine than the situation of the Czechs.
The Czech Republic, a member of the European Union (EU) and NATO, which is part of the Visegrad Group, strongly supports Kiev in its confrontation with the Russian army, both militarily through the supply of weapons and through other measures, including receiving them of weapons refugees from the attacked country. The demonstrators, who number about 10,000 according to local agency CTK, claimed that the Czech health and social security system is on the brink of collapse because of Ukrainian immigrants. A year ago, a similar demonstration also gathered thousands of people.
Marcela Hajkova, a mother of three who took part in the rally, condemned, among other things, the government’s military aid to Ukraine. “We are not a sovereign country, we listen to Brussels,” he told Portal. “Why send weapons to Ukraine, why don’t they fight for peace?”
LGC (EFE/RTR)