Stop the Government to hold demonstration on 17 November

Prague, Oct 30 (CTK) - The Czech platform Stop to the Government, comprising trade unions, civic groups and associations, plans a demonstration and a march against the government in Prague on November 17, CMKOS union umbrella organisation head Jaroslav Zavadil said yesterday.

He said the government has lost the mandate to lead the country after the recent regional and Senate elections and that this is the worst government the Czech Republic has had.

The protest event to be held under the motto "Democracy Looks Different" will be held on the day when the Velvet Revolution that toppled the communist regime in 1989 started in the Czech Republic.

The event will start at 11:00 in Wenceslas Square where various groups will have their stalls and presentations.

The demonstration alone will start at 13:00 and about one hour later a march will leave for National Street that is a symbol of the beginning of the post-communist changes in then Czechoslovakia.

The organisers will not secure transport to the event like to the previous large protest on April 21. The event against the government reforms was attended by some 100,000 people.

The anti-government group ProAlt started a national "poster" campaign "ProAlt warns: This government may kill" yesterday, its representatives told journalists.

They said the recent methanol scandal that has claimed 30 lives is no accidental phenomenon, but a consequence of the years-long weakening of the state with neo-liberal politics.

It leads to the loss of the key role of the state, or in securing citizens' safety, they said.

The ProAlt activists also criticised the government's reforms and warned against their impact on people.

ProAlt started its activities in August 2010. It mainly defends social justice, rejects the deepening of social and economic inequalities, ruthlessness towards the environment and privatisation of the public space, assets and services.