Prague, Dec 27 (CTK) – The security measures taken after the the first degree of terrorism threat was declared in the Czech Republic in March will cost some 30 million crowns and remain in force until next spring at least, Interior Minister Milan Chovanec told public Czech Television (CT) Tuesday.
The Interior Ministry’s budget is prepared for such expenditures, Chovanec (senior government Social Democrats, CSSD) said.
The tightened measures include a stricter protection of power plants and other strategic facilities and the places where many people gather.
The first degree of terrorism threat has been in force in the Czech Republic since March 22 when the government approved in reaction to the terrorist attacks at the airport and in the underground in Brussels.
Several hundred soldiers were deployed to patrol the streets along with the police. The joint patrols were withdrawn in May.
The deployment of the military in the streets is not on the agenda of the day now, Chovanec said.
However, it would follow if the second or third degree of terrorism threat were declared, he added.
The Czech government introduced a four-degree terror-alert system in January in reaction to the terrorist attacks in Paris at the end of last year.
“If no terrorist attacks occurred in Europe for quite a long time, the decreasing of the first degree could be taken into consideration,” PM Bohuslav Sobotka (CSSD) told CT.
The government’s aim is not to keep tightened security measures at any cost, he added.
The protection of some public areas in the Czech Republic, such as shopping centres, Christmas markets and railway stations, was reinforced last week after the terrorist attack in Berlin, which claimed 12 lives, including that of one Czech woman. The police also blocked the entry into many frequented places in cities.
These measures will remain in force until January 2 at least, Chovanec said previously.
