Prague, Jan 21 (CTK) – A crowd of about 200 attended the rally called Love Trumps Hate that wanted politicians and ordinary people to support democracy and civic society as the values are threatened with Donald Trump’s election at Prague’s Wenceslas Square Saturday, organisers have told journalists.
“We are quite ordinary people who are concerned about the way politicians everywhere in the world, not only in the Czech Republic, but also those like Donald Trump in the USA are acting,” the spokeswoman for the Prague rally, Johanna Nejedlova, said.
She said they represented the rhetoric of hatred, while the protesters wanted to meet and express support for the values such as democracy, human rights, the environment, professional news coverage and women’s equality.
A large part of the crowd was made up by Americans. They made it clear that they were leaving their country after Donald Trump came to power, at least temporarily.
“The campaign of the U.S. president, who was only elected by a minority, offended, demonised and threatened a large number of people,” the organisers said in their statement.
“It is an echo and strengthening of the poisonous rhetoric of many current politicians, including those in Prague,” they added.
The demonstrators were waving banners calling for change in society and politics and for a beginning of a real care for the Earth jeopardised by global changes.
They called for fight against fascism, for empathy and building the bridges, not walls among people, Nejedlova said.
They also chanted the slogan of former president Vaclav Have (1989-2003), a dissident under the Communist regime, the Truth and Love Will Defeat the Lie and Hatred.
One of the banners said the USA needed a Velvet Revolution, in which Czechoslovak ousted the Communist rule in 1989.
The rally Truth and Love Will Defeat the Lie and Hatred wants to be the first step towards the reprieve of the world, the unification of the world community from down.
It was attended by representatives of Greenpeace, Amnesty International, women’s rights activists and the committee of Czech Democrats Abroad.
“We want people to support the politics based on facts, to back professional news coverage, not to only to see democracy as a chance to vote, but also to be actively involved and to fight for what actively interests them and to communicate with those who have different views, experiences and hail from different cultures,” Nejedlova said.
pv/dr
