"They were demonstrating against the election results," Turek said of the full Letná protest

Filip Turek, MP for "Motorists for Themselves" and the government's Green Deal envoy, has sharply criticized the approximately quarter of a million participants of the protest at Prague's Letná Plain, organized by the "Million Moments for Democracy" association. "Those people were demonstrating against the election results," stated Turek, whom President Petr Pavel had previously refused to appoint to the cabinet.

According to Turek, the organizers and participants of Saturday's demonstration were defending their own interests rather than democratic values. He claimed that the number of attendees—estimated by organizers at 250,000—is comparable to the size of his own fan base. He labeled the representatives of the "Million Moments for Democracy" association as people who live off contributions to the organization’s operations and called some of the speakers "Normalization-era artists." He also asserted that a portion of the crowd came to Letná because their subsidies had been cut.

The lineup of speakers at Letná included actor and screenwriter Zdeněk Svěrák, actor Ivan Trojan, businessman and philanthropist Dalibor Dědek, and the former President of the Academy of Sciences, Václav Pačes.

"To nationalize the radio and television is not a joke, it's an audacity," Svěrák told the crowd. He was protesting against the plan by the ANO, SPD, and Motorists coalition to abolish license fees for the public broadcasters, Czech Television and Czech Radio. The "Million Moments" association, along with opposition politicians, views this as an attempt by the government coalition to subjugate public media.

"We oppose being dragged down the path of Slovakia and Hungary," Minář said

"We are here to stand against being dragged down the path of Slovakia and Hungary," said Mikuláš Minář, chairman of the "Million Moments for Democracy" association, during the rally titled "We Won’t Let Our Future Be Stolen!" at Letná.

"The winner of the election is clear, but current policy is largely dictated by parties that might not even make it into the Chamber of Deputies today. These are extremist and populist parties that nevertheless hold key ministries—Defense, Foreign Affairs, Environment, and Culture," said actor Ivan Trojan, in a nod to the SPD and Motorists.

According to Radim Fiala, chairman of the SPD parliamentary group and deputy leader of the party, the main message of the demonstration is simply that people are free to gather and say what they want.

Petr Macinka, chairman of "Motorists for Themselves," stated already on Saturday that democracy in the Czech Republic is not threatened by the government, but by pressure groups unable to accept the results of free elections just because their favorite candidate did not win. According to him, the ANO, SPD, and Motorists cabinet will not yield to opposition pressure, as the coalition remains functional and stable.

Zdroj: iDnes.cz