Protesters gathered in Prague on Wednesday to demand Prime Minister Petr Fiala’s administration step down over rising energy costs and called for reconsidering relations with EU, NATO, UN and WHO.
The protest came in response to the energy crisis and soaring cost of living – despite a new cap on energy prices – but the European Union and NATO, which it joined in 2004 and 1999, were also targets.
“We are here because the situation over the past two or three years has started to be very difficult,” one protester, Michela Marikova, told EURACTIV. “We would like to have good relations with Russia for gas,” she said, explaining that while she does not support the war in Ukraine, she supports maintaining “business” with Putin’s government.
Another protester, who asked not to be identified, told EURACTIV that she believed the EU was disregarding the priorities of “small countries like the Czech Republic”.
The organizers of the rally, “Czech Republic first! call on the Czech government to conclude gas contracts with Russia and achieve “military neutrality”.
The demonstration follows another large demonstration organized by the same group earlier this month, during which about 70,000 gathered in Wenceslas Square in Prague.
In response to the previous demonstration, Fiala told the CTK news service that the event was organized “by pro-Russian forces, close to extreme positions and contrary to the interests of the Czech Republic”.
(Nathalie Weatherald and Teresa Di Mauro | EURACTIV.com)
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