Demonstrations against poverty are spreading across Europe. It will take place in Prague this Saturday
photo: Vít Hassan for PrahaIN.cz/Demonstration on September 28
Bratislava, Warsaw, Madrid, Rome, Vienna, Lisbon, Porto and of course Prague. There is a demonstration against poverty, high prices and low wages everywhere during October. Confirmed by Josef Středula, chairman of ČMKOS. he added that the protest took place in the metropolis on Saturday from 12:05 on Wenceslas Square. PrahaIN.cz also found out what exactly the speakers intend to draw attention to.
It is said that by procrastinating, the government has allowed the situation to reach a state where our country has one of the highest inflation rates in the EU, households are losing purchasing power and companies are losing their competitiveness.
“We have repeatedly appealed to the government ever since it took office to start solving the situation, we present concrete solutions and measures, how to proceed, we offer help. The government has been silent for many months and its representatives, instead of really helping people and companies, simply ignore the situation,” according to the information materials obtained by PrahaIN.cz at the headquarters of the Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions.
The organization demands that the government immediately adopt a concrete and effective solution, it is said to be “five minutes to twelve”, stop overlooking the extremely complex situation of families, employees, pensioners, single parents, as firefighters and businessmen alike.
“On Saturday, October 8, at 12:05 p.m., we will meet at Wenceslas Square in Prague for the Against Poverty demonstration to send a clear message to the government: we need to act immediately and help people and companies manage the current situation. And that is not possible without really effective steps by the government,” the trade unions appeal.
Flyer for Saturday’s event. source: CMKOS
They say people are afraid
On Saturday, in addition to Josef Středula, Jan Zazvonil, chairman of the Railway Traffic Alliance, Jiří Dokoupil from the Janáček Philharmonic in Ostrava and a number of other representatives of trade unions were to speak to the participants.
According to the organizers, the goal is to introduce price regulation of basic necessities of life, food prices, energy, fuel, water and rent regulation, to introduce a tax on extraordinary profits, to maintain the real real strength of wages and salaries at least at the level of 2022 or to increase the minimum wage to 18 200 crowns still in 2022.
“I’m going to the demonstration because I’m afraid. I am afraid of the future, not only for myself, but also for my family. I’ve worked honestly all my life and I don’t want to end up in poverty, without rent, food, medicine or healthcare,” she stated General Nurse Andrea Drexler. ¨
The Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions is the largest trade union headquarters in the Czech Republic. It is an association of thirty-one trade unions and has approximately 800,000 members.
However, no one from the central office wanted to estimate the expected number of demonstrators.
PrahaIN.cz will follow the event from the spot.