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The first phase of an extensive reconstruction of Prague’s Barrandov Bridge, one of the busiest sections of the city’s infrastructure, starts on Monday, May 16. During the repairs, drivers will be able to use three lanes in each direction instead of four. Workers will first repair the southern part of the bridge together with the ramp from Strakonická Street. Drivers have been warned to expect long delays .The reconstruction is spread out over several years. The first phase will end at the beginning of September. The bridge, built in 1983, is part of the city ring road and is used by 140,000 drivers daily.

According to estimates from the country’s 14 regions, there are currently around 200 000 refugees from Ukraine in the Czech Republic, Czech Interior Minister Vít Rakušan told on Czech Television. Although the Czech authorities have issued over 340,000 humanitarian visas, roughly 140 000 people are believed to have left the country mostly for Western Europe. The Czech Republic lacks an accurate overview because they are moving within the Schengen area, Rakušan said.

The minister also responded to the problematic situation concerning several hundred Roma refugees, who have not yet received visas since in is not clear if they have dual Ukrainian and Hungarian citizenship in which case they would not be eligible for humanitarian visas in the Czech Republic. Mr. Rakušan said he had asked Hungary to speed up the vetting process so that the matter could be resolved swiftly. In the meantime, the refugees are being accommodated in a tent city in Prague’s Troja district.

Kateřina Konečná was reelected head of the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia at the party’s two-day conference this weekend. Almost 89 % of delegates voted for Konečná, who received 254 out of 286 votes. Konečná took over the party’s leadership following the resignation of Vojtěch Filip, who stepped down last year after the party’s dismal showing in the general elections, when the party lost all its seats in the Chamber of Deputies. Kateřina Konečná represents the party’s liberal wing.

State officials, WWII veterans and foreign diplomats attended a ceremony marking the 77th anniversary of the liberation of the Terezín ghetto on Sunday. Among those were Senate chair Miloš Vystrčil, Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Markéta Pekarová Adamová and Defence Minister Jana Černochová.

Representatives of Russia and Belarus were not invited to the ceremony this year because of the war waged against Ukraine. The head of Terezín Memorial Jan Roubinek said the decision had not been easy since most of the country was liberated from Nazi occupation by the Red Army.

Between 1940 and 1945, more than 150,000 people, most of them Jews, were interned in the Terezín ghetto, the antechamber of the Nazi extermination camp. About 117,000 did not survive the war.