Brno, Sept 22 (CTK) – Twenty-one personalities lit torches for warring countries on the occasion of the World Peace Day in Brno on Thursday night, the organisers have told CTK.
The event was organised for the first time by Diana Tuyet-Lan Kosinova, a former spokeswoman for the Diocesan Charity in Brno, who had been to missions in refugee camps.
Personalities from different domains symbolically met at a fountain – an allegory of peacefulness – in Moravske square in Brno.
The torches were lit by moderator Ales Zboril, Pavel Freid, the former chairman of the Brno Jewish Community, Centre for Experimental Theatre director Petr Oslzly, writer Katerina Tuckova and singer Hana Ulrychova among others.
A total of 22 torches were lit, 21 for specific countries, such as Ukraine, Syria, Israel and Palestine, Somalia, Libya, Iraq, Kurdistan and Afghanistan. The last one was lit for all the remaining countries.
Kosinova says there are ongoing wars in some 60 countries in the world which affect 60 million people.
She called on the participants at the event to contribute to a fundraising of the Brno Diocesan Charity in support of a medical centre in Iraqi Kurdistan.
She said she would like the event to be held annually.
One of the torches was lit by Afghan psychiatrist Safa Hassani, who has been living in the Czech Republic with his family for ten years.
“These events to remember the people in war are great. Every day, there’s a bomb attack and hundreds and thousands of people are dying in war,” said Hassani, adding that he sees the Czech Republic as his home in spite of having spent 30 years in Afghanistan.
