President wants changes to Prague Castle security checks but police are against

The Office of the President published an open letter to Interior Minister Vít Rakušan on Wednesday in which President Miloš Zeman requests that the ministry should either cancel or thoroughly revise the current system of security checks that are in place at Prague Castle.

However, the police have recommended keeping the security checks in place for the time being, saying that the castle's position as the seat of the head of state and one of the city's most visited tourist attractions makes it a potentially attractive soft target. They have said that they will repeal the measures as soon as the security situation changes.

The interior minister said that he was in favour of ending the checks but that Russia’s aggression against Ukraine had put a halt to the process of ending them.

Security checks were put into place at Prague Castle in 2016 after calls by President Zeman to do so for fear of a possible terrorist attack.