Daily news summary

Man found guilty of Nazi salute at Okamura party event

A man has been found guilty of making a Nazi salute at an event organised by Tomio Okamura’s Freedom and Direct Democracy party. The Prague 1 District Court gave Radek Mansfeld a six-month suspended sentence and fined him CZK 30,000 in connection with the incident, which occurred in April at a meeting in central Prague at which leaders of European far-right parties spoke out against what they call the dictate of the EU.

A judge said Mr. Mansfeld was fully aware of the meaning of neo-Nazism and that making the “seig heil” gesture was a symbol of fascism. He has appealed the verdict.

Social Democrat ministers criticise Foldyna’s attendance at “anti-Pride” event

Social Democrat MP Jaroslav Foldyna has been criticised by party colleagues after appearing at an event held on Saturday in opposition to the Prague Pride parade. Also in attendance at what was named a “Patriotic Meeting of the Association of Friends of the White Heterosexual Man” were far-right leader Tomáš Vandas and anti-Muslim campaigner Martin Konvička.

The Social Democrat minister of labour, Jana Maláčová, said Mr. Foldyna was harming the party by drawing attention to his participation in obscure events. The party’s foreign minister, Tomáš Petříček, said Mr. Foldyna’s recent actions were openly at odds with its values and manifesto and proved he was neither social nor a democrat.

Train driver charged over almost causing accident

Police have charged an express train driver who did not respect a red light and entered the wrong track in the Plzeň Region in late February. He managed to stop the train, which was carrying 200 passengers, just 30 metres from another one travelling in the opposite direction, whose driver had also put the brakes on.

Nobody was injured in the incident. The man faces up to five years in prison or a ban on driving trains.

Transport authority trying out hybrid buses in Prague

The Prague transport authority has begun testing out hybrid buses produced by the company Iveco. Trial usage of vehicles made by Solaris and Volvo began at the end of last month. A representative of the transport authority said the hybrid buses had so far shown savings of about one-quarter in usage of diesel.

Prague gets between 100 and 120 new buses a year. From 2020 a significant portion of them should be hybrid vehicles. This is in part because the city has committed to halving its carbon emissions by 2030.

Siniaková and Krejčíková take doubles title in Toronto

Kateřina Siniaková and Barbora Krejčíková won the women’s doubles competition at the Rodgers Cup in Toronto. The Czech pair, who were top seeds, beat Anna-Lena Grönefeld of Germany and Demi Schuurs of the Netherlands 7-5 6-0 in Sunday’s final.

It was the third title that Krejčíková and Siniaková have lifted together after the French Open and Wimbledon last year.

Sparta boss rues naive defence after defeat at Mladá Boleslav

Sparta Prague manager Václav Jílek has accused his players of making trivial and naive mistakes in defence after a 3:4 defeat at Mladá Boleslav in Czech football’s First League on Sunday. Sparta have seven points out of a possible 15 after the first five rounds of the season.

Defending champions Slavia Prague are first on 13 points after a 1:0 win over Jablonec at the weekend. Viktoria Plzen were beaten 2:0 at home by Slovácko; last season’s runners-up have now failed to score in four games.

Weather forecast

It should be cloudy with some rain in places in the Czech Republic on Tuesday, with temperatures of up to 23 degrees Celsius. Similar weather is forecast for the remainder of the week.