Prague, Nov 18 (CTK) – Czech students who dislike their not having been allowed to come to the commemorative plaque at Albertov, where the anniversary of the events on November 17, 1939 and 1989 was commemorated, will stage the real celebration of the events on November 22, organisers told CTK Wednesday.
The police did not let the students to the commemorative plaque at the Albertov university complex because a few hours later, a meeting of President Milos Zeman was to be held there.
The students said such steps could not be excused. University representatives have also protested against this.
The event called “Real Celebration of November 17 at Albertov” was launched at Facebook. Since Tuesday, almost 4,000 people have joined it online.
The students have had the planned event registered at the Prague 2 municipal office, organiser Daniel Ort said.
“The rally will be held this Sunday at 15:00,” Ort said.
The students said the rally would not be held as any protest against Zeman, though some of them were in the group that was stopped by the police over Zeman’s meeting there.
“We do not want this to be interpreted as any political activism or demonstration in any way,” organiser Tereza Kuglerova said.
“We only want to honour the memory in a dignified way, which was made impossible to us yesterday,” she added.
Representatives of the academic community are to speak at the rally, said Kuglerova who declined to elaborate.
In their press release, the organisers said on November 17 the violent suppression of a peaceful student demonstration and subsequent persecution of students by the Nazi regime in 1939 as well as the events that paved the way to the 1989 Velvet Revolution were remembered.
On Tuesday, the police steps were denounced by Charles University rector Tomas Zima and Masaryk University rector Mikulas Bek.
Members of the Student Council of Faculty of Arts of Charles University expressed disagreement with the “police blockade” of the commemorative plaque.
The denial of entry to Albertov was criticised by some Czech politicians. Christian Democrat (KDU-CSL) MEP Pavel Svoboda said not letting the students to Albertov was shameful.
The opposition Civic Democratic Party (ODS) leader, Petr Fiala, said this had trampled on the memory of November 1989.
Jiri Koubek, a deputy for the opposition TOP 09, said Zeman had taken away Albertov from students on the day when it belongs to them, staging a meeting of his followers instead there.
Zeman’s spokesman Jiri Ovcacek has dismissed the criticism. He said the students could come to Albertov at a different time than when Zeman’s speech was to be delivered.
