LIVE: Demonstration of the Open Czechia movement – Chcípl PES
Updates: 11/17/2021 4:24 PM
Released: 11/17/2021, 3:00 p.m.
Prague – The Old Town Square in Prague was filled today by 3:00 p.m. The event was convened by the Open Czechia – Chcípl PES movement together with about three dozen other groups. Speakers called the government’s decision, based on efforts to limit the spread of the virus, unconstitutional. They called for people not to be afraid to defend the freedom they thought the government had taken away from them. The participants in the demonstration did not have veils and did not keep any spacing. Some questioned the covidu-19 pandemic as such and denied the purpose of the vaccination. On Tuesday, the Czech Republic had the most covid-19 infections in the day since the epidemic began last March. 22,479 were newly infected.
The Chcípl PES initiative was created as a protest against measures restricting the operation of restaurants. As a political movement, we will open the Czechia – Chcípl PES then ran in the parliamentary elections, in which the movement won 0.4 percent of the vote. Today’s protest was joined by groups such as Tricolor, the Swiss Democracy, the Free Bloc, the Workers’ Party, the DOST Action or Let’s return the children to school without conditions.
“It is amazing to see a full Old Man who does not have drapes and is not afraid,” the participants of the demonstration welcomed the owner of the restaurant Šeberák and the chairman of the Chcípl PES movement Jakub Olbert. According to him, there are half of the people in the whole country who think the same way. “We will show them that our struggle makes sense. We can achieve what we want,” he said. According to him, the goal is to regain freedom and civil rights.
Representatives of other groups whose state leadership leads to democracy and totalitarianism agree in a similar way. For example, the chairman of Svobodné, Libor Vondráček, called into the crowd to see if people agreed that there was a pandemic of power and hatred in the Czech Republic. He received applause. On the contrary, the protesters roared in disapproval when asked if anyone thought there was an unvaccinated pandemic in the country.
Tricolor Chairwoman Zuzana Zahradníková Majerová said that today’s demonstration commemorates her in 1989. “Only communist totalitarianism was replaced by covid totalitarianism,” she said. “Let’s not be afraid!” she called and recalled one of the slogans of the Velvet Revolution Who, if not us, when, if not now.
According to Jiří Janeček, vice-president of the Chcípl PES movement, people can no longer lose anything when they lose their freedom. A representative of the Go Back to School initiative then urged those present not to leave the children in quarantine at home and to insist on their attendance at school, even if they may be infected. Other speakers are also calling for civil disobedience.
Prague police spokesman Jan Danek told CTK that an estimated 10,000 people took part in the demonstration. Police officers have repeatedly called on participants to comply with existing anti-epidemic measures. The dissolving assembly is the responsibility of a local staff member who is in place. “In this particular case, this worker did not find a reason to dissolve the assembly,” police said on Twitter.
Some protesters wore Czech or crossed-out EU flags and banners with inscriptions such as Disobedience is on the basis of freedom, it is not about health or the Mocipani, remember that whoever sucks the wind reaps storms! The crowd chanted Freedom! and We’ve had enough! The organizers announced in advance that the demonstration would be completely non-violent and that 80 volunteers would take care of safety in addition to the police.
Due to the deteriorating epidemiological situation, the Ministry of Health will suggest to the government on Thursday that tests will no longer be used as a covid negative certificate from Monday.