Mikulov, South Moravia, Jan 27 (CTK) – Some Czech politicians made fools of themselves when they “hysterically reacted” to his bon mot about that the use of a Kalashinkov assault rifle is a non-democratic way of getting rid of the prime minister, Czech President Milos Zeman said yesterday.
At a press conference at the end of his three-day visit to the South Moravia Region, Zeman said he was not calling for Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka (Social Democrats, CSSD) being shot dead and that some Czech journalists and politicians misinterpreted his words.
Zeman drew attention with his reply to a question a student asked him at a meeting with the public in Tisnov, south Moravia, on Monday. She wanted to know how to achieve the dismissal of the prime minister.
“If you want to get rid of any politician, there is the only democratic way, which is a democratic election…Then there is an undemocratic way and its name is Kalashnikov,” Zeman said on Monday.
Yesterday, he said “some politicians drew the conclusion that I want to shoot Sobotka dead even though his name did not appear in the sentence.”
“I will not name the politicians who in my opinion rather made fools of themselves with their hysterical reaction,” Zeman said.
Politicians from both houses of parliament and from across the political spectrum dismissed the statement as unacceptable and unsuitable, or disgusting.
Sobotka himself said Zeman’s words are silly and that they scare his family.
ms/dr/hol
