News

Czech farmers are planning to blockade the Austrian border in protest against increased imports of pork by chain stores in the Czech Republic, the president of the Czech Agrarian Chamber Jan Veleba said on Monday. He said Czech pig husbandry was threatened with collapse and that the practices of chain stores led to billions of crowns in losses a year. Mr Veleba would not say when the blockades will take place or at which border crossings.

Eight people have been charged after clashes between members of far-right and hard-left groups in Prerov on Saturday, police said. Bottles and cobblestones were thrown as police struggled to keep 180 members of a group called National Corporativism apart from 150 left-wing extremists in the north Moravian town.

Over 107,000 people saw the new Czech film Vratne Lahve (Refundable Bottles) in its opening weekend, in what is a modern record for Czech cinema. Director Jan Sverak said he was glad the film - written by and starring his father Zdenek - had also been enjoyed by other people.

The Social Democrats should decide on their candidate for next year's presidential election within two months, chairman Jiri Paroubek said on Sunday. Speaking on Czech Television, Mr Paroubek said he wanted to put forward a resolution at his party's next conference against any of the Social Democrats' MPs or senators voting for the incumbent Vaclav Klaus in the bicameral secret vote. He said his party were willing to put aside their own interests in order to see the president replaced. Mr Paroubek also criticised Mr Klaus for remaining honorary chairman of the Civic Democrats after he became Czech president.