News

The ban on fireworks in the centre of Prague that has been in effect since 2020 did not stop people from using them in large quantities as the clock struck midnight on December 31. The police handed out fines to dozens of people violating the ban, according to the Czech News Agency. However, by midnight there were already so many people setting off fireworks that the police were not able to deal with them all.

The police and emergency services were out in force in the centre of Prague. Ambulances were stationed in readiness and hundreds of police officers were there supervising. Before midnight, the celebrations in the city centre had been relatively peaceful, according to the statements of police and rescue workers. However, a man did attack a police officer on Wenceslas Square, causing him to end up in hospital with a head injury, and some fireworks set off in Ve Smečkách Street caused damage to around 30 windows.

According to a spokeswoman for the Prague police, the police dealt with more than 500 calls in the 12-hour period from 6 pm on New Year's Eve to 6 am on New Year's Day, with roughly half of them occurring in the first four hours of Sunday morning. Ten people were arrested for misdemeanours and one person was detained for committing a violent crime against a police officer. Police spokeswoman Violeta Siřišťová told the Czech News Agency that this year's New Year's Eve celebrations were comparable to the years before the coronavirus epidemic.

The ambulance service described this year's New Year's celebrations in Prague as calmer compared to the years before the coronavirus pandemic. Paramedics recorded 81 events in connection with the celebrations, including six fireworks-related injuries. Some 28 people were treated in ambulances on Wenceslas Square and Old Town Square during the night, and 10 people were taken to medical facilities.

Firefighters recorded a similar number of fires as last year, according to Prague fire department spokesman Martin Kavka. Firefighters responded to 55 fires caused by fireworks in Prague, mainly burning bushes, dumpsters and recycling containers. Last year the number was 57. This year, firefighters also dealt with an electric car fire, helping people down who got stuck in a chimney, and rescuing some people who ran into trouble on a boat on the river Vltava.

Laying hens infected with bird flu at a chicken farm in the Plzeň Region will begin to be culled on Tuesday, the Czech News Agency reports. The outbreak of bird flu at the farm in the village of Brod nad Tichou was confirmed on Friday. So far, the disease has infected roughly a sixth of the 742,000 laying hens. Approximately 2.5 million eggs from the farm will also have to be disposed of.

This is the largest bird flu outbreak in Czechia so far, the 19th outbreak this year and the ninth since the beginning of December. Outdoor breeding of poultry has been prohibited in the country since December 14 due to the epidemic.

The bird flu epidemic has been going on in Europe for more than a year now. Bird flu is potentially transmissible to humans.

Sparta Prague lost 2:3 to Swiss team HC Ambri-Piotta in the 94th Spengler Cup international ice hockey tournament final in Davos, Switzerland on New Year's Eve. With both teams having equalised at the end of regulation time, the Swiss team were able to decide the match in their favour during overtime shootouts.

First held in 1923, the Spengler Cup is often cited as the oldest invitational ice hockey tournament in the world.

Shops in Czechia will have reduced opening hours on New Year's Eve, with most closing in the early evening around 5 or 6 p.m., warns the president of the Trade and Tourism Association, Tomáš Prouza. On New Year's Day, stores more than 200 square metres in size must remain closed by law. However, shops at airports, train stations, and petrol stations are allowed to open for business.