MPs discuss whether to tighten restrictions on selling scrap metal

Following on from the theft of over 800 name plaques from the graves of Holocaust victims in North Bohemia, MPs are discussing whether to tighten laws on the sale and purchase of scrap metal. The parliamentary subcommittee for waste and raw materials is suggesting that individuals should no longer be able to approach scrap yards with items for sale – that only firms and town councils should be authorized to do so. Members of the committee suggest that this would lower the number of thefts of metallic objects, and ensure that something like what happened at the Terezín concentration camp cemetery never happens again. But critics of the plan, such as the head of the Green Party Martin Bursík, say that this would lead to dumping of old scrap metal in the country’s forests and in nature.