Tens of thousands of protesters rally in Prague against new government of Czech prime minister Babiš
Tens of thousands of people protested in Prague on Saturday against the policies and plans of the new Czech government led by populist Prime Minister Andrej Babiš.
Protesters from across the Czech Republic took part in a peaceful demonstration in Letná park, the scene of massive gatherings that contributed greatly to the collapse of communism in 1989.
They came to express concern that billionaire Babiš and his coalition cabinet pose a threat to democracy and are steering the country away from support for Ukraine and towards an autocratic path.
Czech national flags were waved in the crowd, which organizers estimated at 200,000 people, while one of the banners on display read, “Let’s defend democracy.”
“We are here to openly oppose dragging our country down the path of Slovakia and Hungary,” said Mikuláš Minář, chief organizer of the Million Moments for Democracy group, referring to the pro-Russian and autocratic tendencies of these two countries.
Babiš returned to power in the Czech Republic after his ANO (YES) movement won a landslide victory in the country’s October elections and formed a coalition with two smaller political groups, the anti-immigrant Party for Freedom and Direct Democracy and the right-wing Car Owners Party.
The government began to significantly redefine the country’s foreign and domestic policies by forming new alliances with groups whose views were considered extreme.
Babiš opposed some of the European Union’s key policies on the environment and migration, and rejected all financial aid to Ukraine and EU loan guarantees to the country fighting the Russian occupation, joining the ranks of Hungary’s Prime Ministers Viktor Orbán and Slovakia’s Robert Fico.
The new government is preparing a bill that critics say is inspired by Russia’s law on foreign agents that would require non-governmental organizations and people involved in vaguely defined political activities and recipients of foreign aid to register or face huge fines.
“This law can easily be used to restrict personal freedom,” Václav Pačes, former president of the Academy of Sciences, told the crowd.
Another plan on the agenda is to change the financing of public radio and television; Many say the move will give the government control of broadcasters.
Organizers said they decided to hold the rally following the recent decision of the lower house of parliament to reject a motion to lift immunity from prosecution of Babiš in a $2 million fraud case involving EU subsidies.
Approval would allow the court to make a decision soon, but denying the motion means he could only be tried after his term in the house ends in 2029.
Lawmakers also refused to allow lower house Speaker Tomio Okamura, head of the Freedom Party, to be tried on charges of inciting hatred.
The Million Moments group said these decisions divided the country into two categories: “ordinary people and untouchables.”
“I came to defend something that is extremely important to me,” said 19-year-old student Michael Černohlávek. “I know that the system we have, our freedom, cannot be taken for granted, and it is important for me to protect it.”
More protests are planned to follow.
