Weekend saw demonstrations against mandatory vaccination

Protestors against a government decree obligating certain groups to undergo mandatory Covid-19 vaccination organized a demonstration on Prague’s Wenceslas Square on Sunday afternoon. An estimated 3,500 protestors then marched through Prague’s center towards the Office of Government. The demonstration, organized by the anti-vaccine organization Chcípl PES, followed up on similar protests organized in several cities across the Czech Republic on Saturday.

The largest protest on Saturday seems to have taken place in Brno, where around 2,000 people are estimated to have taken part. Further demonstrations were also in the regional cities of Ústí nad Labem, Olomouc, Karlovy Vary and České Budějovice, although attendance in these places was lower than expected, the Czech News Agency writes.

The decree, which obliges people over the age of 60 and those working in selected professions to get vaccinated before March, was passed by the previous government of Andrej Babiš. It has since been challenged by a group of senators who sent a complaint to the Constitutional Court. The current government of Petr Fiala has stated that it intends to remove the obligation for seniors to get vaccinated from the decree by mid-February.