Il Nuovo Postiglione - Czechs rally to back president locking horns with government

Organisers from the independent Million Moments for Democracy movement claim up to 90,000 people attended the demonstration, where some participants waved Czech, European and Ukrainian flags.

Babis leads a government comprising his catch-all ANO party and two eurosceptic parties, the far-right SPD and the right-wing Motorists, following a general election last October.

President Petr Pavel and the government have since then been embroiled in disagreement over Babis's naming of a contentious minister under investigation for rape, and over the question of whether the Czech Republic should continue supporting war-ravaged Ukraine.

- 'Devil of dictatorship' -

"We are here to show the president that he is not alone -- the devil of dictatorship never sleeps and we have to stay vigilant," Alena Krotka, a pensioner who demonstrated against the communist regime in Prague on the same Wenceslas square in 1989, told AFP.

On Tuesday, Pavel published short messages in which Motorists chairman and Foreign Minister Petr Macinka threatened retaliation if the president keeps refusing to name Motorists candidate Filip Turek as the environment minister.

Turek, a former member of the European Parliament, is under investigation for domestic violence and rape following a complaint filed by a former girlfriend.

Media have published Turek's posts on social networks, describing them as racist and misogynistic, and police also probed allegations that he owned Nazi paraphernalia and made the Nazi salute, before shelving the case.

"We have to stop such behaviours in high politics, this cannot go on like this," said 16-year-old student Teodor, who sported a banner praising the head of state.

Pavel has refused to name Turek, saying his actions "raise doubts about his loyalty to the values set out in the Czech constitution".

Macinka, now serving as both foreign and environment minister, said on Czech public TV on Sunday that he would "ignore" the president, who he said should not represent the country at the next NATO summit.

The parliamentary opposition has initiated a vote of confidence for next week, which Babis's cabinet is almost certain to survive.

- Petition -

"The unprecedented blackmail of the president by Petr Macinka is absolutely unacceptable. This has no place in a democratic culture," Million Moments for Democracy said on Facebook.

In 2019, the movement brought some 250,000 people to a rally against Babis serving his first term as premier, accusing him of graft and urging him to resign.

It announced that a new demonstration would be organised if the recently launched petition called "We Stand Behind the President" was signed by more than a million people. It has now gathered over 622,000 signatures.

In an X post, Pavel said he values people who are "willing to stand up for decency, truth, solidarity and mutual respect".

"I deeply appreciate all those who do not remain indifferent to what is happening around them and who feel responsible for the state of our country," he said.

Pavel and Babis also clash over Czech-made jet fighter supplies to Ukraine -- while the president sees no problem in sending four L-159 planes, the government opposes providing military aid to Kyiv and insists Prague needs the jets.

Q.Bernardi--INP