Horko in Prague: Police detained 17 people during protests, including Member of Parliament Free
Opponents of the veils and other anti-epidemic measures demonstrated today in Prague. Their announced events on Wenceslas Square and then Old Town Square did not last long. Some of the protesters then went to Petřín in the afternoon and then back to the Old Town Square, where the police called on them to break up. The subsequent attempt of several dozen demonstrators to penetrate Wenceslas Square was thwarted by heavily-clad police, who blocked their two-way road in Na Příkopě Street and from which a 50-meter section was gradually released after proving their identities.
“Due to disobedience to the calls of officials and non-compliance with government regulations of police officers in Na Příkopě Street, dozens of people were restricted in their personal freedom,” we present the police on Twitter. In connection with the protests of the police, according to their spokesman Jan Daňek, 17 people were detained due to violations by 15:00. These included limiting the number of participants in demonstrations to a maximum of 100 people or covering their noses with a mouthpiece or respirator.
One of the detainees was MP Lubomír Volný (formerly SPD), who organized the first of the demonstrations. He confirmed it on his Facebook, he usually did not comment on the reason. “I’m fine, I’m free,” he said simply.
Interior Minister Jan Hamáček said in favor CNN confirm that the police detained Free. “I have information that the deputy was detained after repeatedly refusing to use a veil,” Hamáček said.
Police measures applied on Wenceslas Square, where she convened a demonstration of the We Together initiative at 1 p.m. Police also closed the square and allowed only a hundred participants into the area bordered by red and white barriers, which is now the number of people allowed at rallies, and citizens living in the area. After about ten minutes, the organizer ended the event.
The demonstration in the Old Town Square lasted even shorter, ending shortly after the start at 2 p.m. According to the police, this assembly, organized by the Chcípl PES initiative, was dissolved by a magistrate “due to exceeding the set number of participants in the assembly”. Its participants then went to Petřín and then back to the Old Town Square, where the police called on them to break up.
On Sunday morning and morning, police stopped several buses with demonstrations at several places in the republic. Server iDNES.cz warnings about several buses in the Karviná region, similar cases were recorded by police officers in Brno and the Pilsen region.
The police did not allow any of the buses outside the district to continue. Deputy Prime Minister Hamáček has previously said that participation in the demonstration is not a reason to leave the district.
Circumvention of the Regulation
People on buses in the Karviná region must want to excuse themselves for going to tender. “The police told us that they did not accept the invitation to the parliamentary assistant’s selection procedure and that they assumed that we were circumventing a government regulation banning leaving the district,” one of the participants told the server.
South Moravian police officers checked a bus on the Brno-countryside border that was not a regular bus. In the end, he did not cross the border of the district. “None of the passengers met the condition to cross the borders of the district. The police explained it to them, turned around and drove back, “said police spokesman David Chaloupka. The spokesman did not say where the vehicle was headed and what the reasons for the passengers were.
A bus was also heading to Prague for a demonstration against government measures, monitoring the police from the Pilsen region. The bus drove from Kralovice, but according to police spokeswoman Ivana Jelínková, no one got on it. “The police had selected stops, some had no person, some had a few people, but no one got on the bus, so there has been no violation of government measures yet,” Jelínková said.
From 1 March, people are only allowed to leave the district where they have a permanent residence or residence for fundamental reasons, such as a trip to work or to a doctor. According to current government coronavirus measures, it is possible to hold public gatherings for up to 100 people, who come from a maximum of 20 people and maintain a spacing of at least two meters.