Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Czech premier protested
A child waves Czech flags Sunday during the largest antigovernment protest in almost 30 years in Prague, Czech Republic. Demonstrators called on Prime Minister Andrej Babis to step down over fraud allegations involving European Union funds and concern he might undermine the independence of the Czech legal system.
PRAGUE — Hundreds of thousands of people rallied Sunday in Prague to urge Prime Minister Andrej Babis to resign, assembling from across the Czech Republic for the capital’s biggest anti-government protest in almost 30 years.
The demonstration at Letna Park was the largest in a string of protests in the past two months opposing Babis. The park was a key site for gatherings of the 1989 pro-democratic Velvet Revolution, which significantly contributed to the fall of communism in what was then Czechoslovakia.
The protesters of 2019 said they didn’t come to overthrow the current political system but to defend it.
They consider Babis, a populist billionaire, as a threat to democracy and the independence of the country’s legal system.
“We demand the resignation of Andrej Babis,” said Mikulas Minar, a student who put his studies on hold to help lead the recent demonstrations organized by a group called Million Moments for Democracy.
Babis has repeatedly said he has no reason to resign.
“It will likely be a long run,” another organizer, Benjamin Roll, told the crowd. “The current situation is unacceptable.”
Opposition to Babis has been fueled by the appointment of a new justice minister as prosecutors are deciding whether to indict Babis over reports of fraud involving European Union funds.
The protesters fear the new minister might undermine the independence of the Czech legal system, a threat that has brought the governments of Poland and Romania warnings from the European Union.
Justice Minister Marie Benesova is a close ally of Babis and voted against a police request to strip the prime minister of parliamentary immunity to face a criminal investigation. Protesters are also demanding that Benesova resign.
A preliminary European Union report leaked in May concluded that Babis might have had a conflict of interest over EU subsidies involving his former business empire.
Babis denied wrongdoing and accused the EU of trying to destabilize the Czech Republic.
Many of the demonstrators Sunday accused Babis and his key ally, President Milos Zeman, of undermining Czech politics and democracy overall.
Babis also faces allegations that he collaborated with Czechoslovakia’s secret police before 1989, as well as criticism of his government’s power-sharing deal with the Communist Party.
“What is happening is more than we can tolerate,” said Dagmar Kratochvilova, a 60-year-old pottery maker who traveled across the country on a bus to reach Prague with others from the eastern city of Frydek Mistek.
The peaceful crowd chanted “Resign, resign,” and “We’ve had enough” while waving Czech and also European Union flags. “No Tolerance for Lies and Fraud,” read a banner unrolled by the demonstrators.
The protesters announced another major protest at the same location for Nov. 16 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution.