June 6 (CTK) – The police have halted the case of the damaging of Chinese flags that decorated the route from Prague airport to the city’s centre before the visit of President Xi Jinping at the end of March, Prague police spokesman Jan Danek told CTK yesterday.
The police have not revealed any evidence that would allow for the launching of criminal prosecution, Danek said.
The damage incurred was set at 130,000 crowns. The flag decoration was paid by the Mixed Czech-Chinese Chamber of Mutual Cooperation, which replaced the damaged flags before Xi Jinping’s arrival.
The police previously released a video of a man who damaged the Chinese flags on March 26 and they said the man faced up to two years in prison for causing the damage.
Somebody also splashed several dozen Chinese flags hanging from lamp posts with dark dye, while the Czech flags remained intact.
A group of activists replaced several Chinese flags with Tibetan ones shortly before the arrival of the Chinese presidential convoy. The police removed the Tibetan flags.
The security measures introduced during Xi’s three-day visit cost 16 million crowns. About 1000 police officers guaranteed the security of the Chinese president every day. The police faced criticism over some of their interventions against people who protested against China’s politics.
($1=24.221 crowns)
