News

Police clash with extremists

Riot police clashed with right-wing extremists during a demonstration in Duchcov in the Teplice area on Saturday. Stones and bottles were thrown and police used tear gas and a water cannon. One of the officers went down in the clash and had to be rescued by colleagues. Five people, including two officers, were injured. Also among the injured was a photographer who was struck in the head.The demonstration was organised by the ultra right-wing Workers Party for Social Justice. Nine people were detained and 34 weapons - mostly baseball bats - were confiscated.

President keeping quiet about preferred option

The leaders of the two senior coalition parties met with President Miloš Zeman at his residence in Lány on Friday to discuss ways out of the current political crisis. The Civic Democrats’ Miroslava Němcová – the coalition’s nominee for prime minister – and Civic Democratic leader Martin Kuba, met with Mr Zeman for almost two hours. Ms Němcová said afterwards that the president gave no indication which way he would lean, in other words, whether he would support her bid to head the next government.

TOP 09 chairman Karel Schwarzenberg and deputy party leader Miroslav Kalousek also met with Mr Zeman on Friday: afterwards Mr Schwarzenberg suggested that the president would prefer a caretaker government. Mr Zeman could decide for that option (there have been reports speculating that former finance minister Jiří Rusnok, a close ally of the president’s, could be a potential candidate0. Mr Zeman could also try and push for early elections. He will announce which plan he favours at a press conference on Tuesday.

Opposition leaders meet with Zeman on Saturday

In related news, leaders from the leftist opposition are meeting with Mr Zeman on Saturday: the Social Democrats and the Communists are expected to renew their call for early elections. Polls suggest that those would most favour the opposition Social Democrats; according to a survey released on Friday, their rivals the Civic Democrats would face an historic defeat if the elections were held now. Czech daily Mladá fronta Dnes suggests that the president on Tuesday could confer the task of forming a new government to Social Democrat leader Bohuslav Sobotka. He, however, made clear earlier that he would turn down such an offer. The Social Democrats want to form the next government based on election results.

Communist Party leaders meet with president

Representatives of the Communist Party, leader Vojtěch Filip and Miloslava Vostra met for roughly an hour and a half with the president on Saturday, discussing the possibility of early elections. Mr Filip said after the meeting in his view other solutions would only deepen the current political crisis. According to the party leader, the president said he was glad to hear their stance, even though he will only make public his decision on how to proceed on Tuesday. The possibility of a caretaker government with Communist Party support was not discussed.

McFerrin, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, hold open-air concert

American singer and jazzman Bobby McFerrin and the Czech Philharmonic held an open-air concert on Prague’s Old Town Square on Friday that was seen by 10,000 people, according to estimates. The concert on the packed square was free. Soloists included violin virtuoso Josef Špaček, clarinetist Tomáš Kopáček and violin cello player Jan Keller. The concert lasted 90 minutes and ended with a rendition of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.

Disease specialist warns families with toddlers not to travel to risky locations

Rastislav Maďar, the president of a Czech organisation focusing on infectious diseases and tropical medicine, has warned that families with children who under the age of two years should avoid exotic destinations or less developed parts of the world for risk of illness. Citing statistics from inoculation centres, he suggested that India, Nepal, Peru and less-traveled parts of Thailand were riskiest for toddlers, where they could pick up diarrhea, inner-ear infections, respiratory illnesses, fever, and heatstroke, to name a few. Mr Maďar also told the Czech news agency that an additional factor was poor or less-reliable health care in areas.

Attendees of festival, others, offered alternative transportation

An express train heading from Turnov to Malá Skála hit a fallen tree in the early hours of Saturday; no one was injured in the accident – busses are being provided as alternative transport, the spokesman for Czech Railways said. The locomotive, luckily did not derail although the vehicle was damaged. Malá Skála is to see an influx of visitors on Saturday afternoon travelling to the first edition of a new local rock festival, this year featuring performers Richard Muller, Mig 21, Anna K and others.

Progressive Plzeň to add additional bike paths

Two new paths for cyclists will be added in the city of Plzeň within the Greenways projects thanks to EU funds. Pedestrian, cycling, and rollerblading have been expanded along the city’s four rivers since 2006. By the end of 2014 an additional 1.7 kilometres will be added at the cost of 27 million crowns the Plzeň’s Mayor Martin Baxa said.

Stanley Cup: Boston at Chicago for Game 5

The Chicago Blackhawks and the Boston Bruins face off in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final on Saturday evening. Chicago will have home-ice advantage in what has so far been a closely-fought series. The Blackhawks won the last game to even the best-of-seven match-up at two apiece. Both clubs feature the talents of Czech players: the Bruins’ David Krejčí leads in the post season on points, while future hall-of-famer Jaromír Jágr has proven effective on key plays. At the same time, he has suffered a scoring drought.

Weather

Cloudy conditions with some sunny periods are expected on Saturday with a chance of rain in places. Daytime highs should reach around 24 degrees Celsius.