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Czech Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček has voiced support for Monday’s EU declaration, which calls for restraint and constructive engagement in de-escalation efforts regarding the ongoing protests in Hong Kong. “Neither policemen and soldiers, nor the protesters should get away with acts of violence”, Mr. Petříček tweeted on Tuesday, stressing instead that “dialogue with protesters“ was key and that Hong Kong’s Basic Law, including the island‘s autonomy, should be respected. He finished with a message to the citizens of Hong Kong, writing that he supported their “non-violent fight” for rights.

Many, including the EU High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, have pointed to the continuing rise in violence in Hong Kong, including the ongoing police siege of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, which is being occupied by protestors.

The Australian mining company European Metals Holdings (EMH) Limited has reached a conditional agreement with the Czech energy company ČEZ Group regarding a strategic partnership as well as large investment into a lithium mining project around Cínovec in the North West of the country, the Czech News Agency reports quoting a Wednesday statement by EMH. If the agreement passes a due diligence check and is approved by shareholders it will mean that ČEZ will pay EUR 34.06 million to receive a 51 percent share in Geodet, a subsidiary of EMH, which possesses the rights to mine in the area.

Lithium, a key component of electric car batteries, is sometimes referred to as the “metal of the future”. The Czech Republic is estimated to possess 3 percent of the world’s lithium reserves and the deposit around Cínovec is the largest in Europe.

The question of who owned the country’s lithium reserves was one of the key issues in the last general election in the Czech Republic. The Czech government is the majority owner of ČEZ.

The police have asked the Prague authorities to activate a facial recognition function on security cameras at six locations in the city as part of a pilot project, the news site iRozhlas reported. This would allow the police to automatically monitor and record the movement of people caught on those cameras.

Prague City Hall will now consult the matter with the Office for the Protection of Personal Data. It previously refused to allow facial recognition technology to be used to track suspected football hooligans.

Czech farmers say that sales of eight major agricultural commodities should rise by almost CZK 2 billion this year to reach over CZK 90 billion. More cereals and potatoes have been harvested this year but the rape crop was down on 2018.

The Agricultural Association of the Czech Republic said the overall sales figure for this year should be above the average recorded since the year 2000.