News

In a speech at the university campus that was the scene of the Nazi brutalities, President Vaclav Klaus said that the two anniversaries – one relating to Nazi, the other to Communist oppression - were closely intertwined and we should forget neither of them. He said it was important to recognize what had led the country from one form of oppression into another and noted that many Czech intellectuals had naively embraced leftist utopian visions and that after having been disappointed by the Western allies Czechs had blindly sought security guarantees from the East.

A number of protests and demonstrations took place in Prague on the country’s state holiday. Close to two thousand people marched through the city centre to protest against the Czech Republic hosting a US radar base on its territory. The protest was organized by the No to Bases civic initiative which called for a referendum on the issue. Right wing extremists met on Palacky Square to protest against the actions of the police last weekend when they prevented neo-Nazis from marching through Prague’s Jewish quarter on the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the Nazi pogrom against Jews. The ultra-right protesters symbolically buried “freedom of speech” in a funeral casket and quietly dispersed. Trade unions likewise held a gathering in the centre of Prague. The police were out in force to maintain law and order.

Opposition leader Jiri Paroubek tied the knot for a second time at Hotel Esplanade in Marianske Lazne on Saturday. He married Slovak-born Petra Kovacova with whom he cooperated closely in the past few years and developed a close relationship. Mr. Paroubek divorced his wife of thirty years two months ago. The wedding was a private affair for close friends and family.

The head of the Czech counter-intelligence service (the BIS) Jiri Lang was not responsible for the leak of sensitive information from the organisation three years ago. Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek (of the Civic Democrats), and the chairman of the lower house committee monitoring BIS activities, Jeronym Tejc (of the Social Democrats), made the announcement on Friday after a committee hearing. The BIS recently admitted that a former employee stole data from the service three years ago. The former officer allegedly tried to sell the information, which was three years old at the time, on to another party, but the illicit deal is said to have fallen through. According to the BIS, although classified information was at risk, damage was not done: some experts hold a differing opinion. The classified information is believed to have pertained to privatisation and tenders.