People in Prague remembered the First of May, there were events in support of Ukraine and majáles — ČT24 — Czech Television
“This is not a demonstration, the goal is to alert people to what is happening in Ukraine. I’m following education,” said Soňa Pospíšilová from the association, which opened a stand in support of Ukraine against Russian aggression shortly after noon. She mentioned that the stand has been in place since Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea in 2014. In the past, it has dealt with some conflicts, mainly from Russian tourists. According to Pospíšilová, the stand has been without complications in recent weeks.
The theme of the war in Ukraine also resonated at the May Day meeting, which was organized in the morning by the KSČM on Strelecky Island. Communist presidential candidate Josef Skála criticized the government, which says that the Czech Republic is at war. “Let’s ban them,” he cried. The chairwoman of the Prague committee of the Communist Party of the Czech Republic, Marta Semelová, drew attention to the increase in income poverty of Czech citizens and rising prices.
Soviet flag with swastikas
The Cuban ambassador to the Czech Republic, Danilo Alonso Mederos, also spoke at the communist event. Also present was a group of about ten people with the flags of Ukraine, the EU, the USA and the flag of the Soviet Union drawn with swastikas. After the singing of the International at around 10:30, the event slowly came to an end due to verbal altercations between the two groups.
Communist supporters on Strelec Island were subsequently replaced by an anarchist May Day picnic. Several dozen of its participants, equipped with red and black anarchist flags, stood there quietly, listening to music and debating. After 10:30, about a dozen young supporters of Social Democracy and the Greens had their picnic a few tens of meters away.
The center of Prague then belonged to the student May Day parade. It was attended by about fifty students, some of them in costumes and with banners, the students of the Hussite Faculty of Theology disguised as Hussite fighters were the most prominent. They supported their candidate for the king of majales with the slogans “Less flails, more beer” or “Against everyone”.
At the beginning of the procession, which was accompanied by the police, historian Petr Blažek recalled the history of the first student gatherings, including the majáles in 1965, when the American beat poet Allen Ginsberg was elected king. He also criticized the fact that currently the majáles organized by students in Prague overshadows the commercial music festival.
Passers-by shouted at the leader of the communists
Supporters of communists, social democrats and other left-wing parties and groups gathered in the afternoon on Náměstí Miru. More than a hundred people arrived, a large part of them were of retirement age. Speakers talk about pensions, free healthcare or five weeks’ vacation. Among the speakers was, for example, Jan Kavan from the ČSSD, who was foreign minister two decades ago.
In her speech, KSČM chairperson Kateřina Konečná described the Czech minimum wage as a shame. Several passers-by then started calling her: “You’re a disgrace!”. The organizers placed the flag of the erstwhile Non Basic movement not far from the stage. Opponents of the communists also came to the scene with a large display on which there was an equal sign between the symbol of the hammer and sickle and the swastika.
The SPOLU coalition (ODS, KDU-ČSL, TOP 09) used the meeting in Prague’s Petřín to launch a campaign before the municipal elections in the capital.