Prague, clashes between the police and Covid deniers: the Old Town square becomes a battlefield

BERLIN – Violent street clashes in the center of Prague. It is the first significant street violence since the “velvet revolution” that in 1989 led to the fall of the communist dictatorship. Thousands of agents in riot control and special departments, including reinforcements summoned from all corners of the rest of the country, have dissolved the demonstration of the deniers and of anyone who refuses the anti-Covid 19 emergency measures, right in the country of the Union. European that despite the excellent health structure complains of the highest number of infections per inhabitant: the day before yesterday more than a thousand out of only 10.7 million citizens. Despite the fact that the Czech Republic is a modern and efficient country with good social structures, the infection rate per capita is ten times that of Germany. In two weeks, the government will decide whether to implement a total blockade, even more drastic than the current state of emergency.

The police intervened to dissolve more than two thousand protesters. The most decisive and violent of the protesters were young hockey ultra-members and soccer fans close to far-right groups. There are dozens of injuries and arrests, even several officers have had to seek medical attention. According to Radio Prague, the protesters were more than two thousand, aggressive and all without masks. The police intervened to break up the demonstration at first because of their numbers alone, surpassing the 50-person limit for each encounter, but the response from the youth was violent, often brutal. The toughest battles have turned the wonderful Staroméstké Námestí, the square in the old town known to tourists from all over the world and a symbol of the Czech capital, into a battlefield. The protesters threw stones and firecrackers, the police responded with tear gas and fire hydrants.

“If the pandemic falls, it is the fault of the government that has not acted correctly,” protesters told local news sites. In the Czech Republic, the liberal-conservative government of the first tycoon Andrej Babis initially adopted a blockade, and then lifted it too soon. Only to have to restore it a few days ago, when the situation precipitated: infections increase daily, from 800 to more than a thousand per day. Babis delivered a ruthless self-criticism in public and declared a state of emergency, similar to the French curfew and with soldiers from the small, modern Czech army in every street and square to help police monitor compliance with the rules. The sanitary facilities of modern and industrial Czechia are in good condition, much more modern than those of other central European countries and considered light years away from those of neighboring Hungary, whose healthcare under Orbán has collapsed to Romanian or Bulgarian levels. , but Prague is prepared for everything, precisely for a total blockade and also to entrust the armed forces with the organization of field hospitals with all anti-coronavirus teams.

The main perpetrators of street violence, according to police, are far-right supporters of the Banik Ostrava team. The wounded of the two sides hospitalized in hospitals already crowded with Covid patients number by the dozen. Interior Minister Jan Hamacék promised zero tolerance last night, speaking on Radio Prague in an appeal to the country. “No violation of exceptional anti-Covid law and regulations will be tolerated, all those responsible for violence and any illegal act will face justice,” he said.

Also yesterday in Bratislava, the capital of neighboring “cousin” Slovakia, extremists linked to sympathizers tried to organize demonstrations in the center against the emergency, but were immediately dispersed by the police. The government of Prime Minister Igor Matovic in agreement with anti-corruption president Zuzaná Caputová decided yesterday to subject the entire population to coronavirus tests.