Prague, April 9 (CTK) – People gathered in the squares of nearly 20 Czech cities this evening to protest against the prosecuted Prime Minister Andrej Babis (ANO) and his government that has been ruling the country in resignation since January.
There were several thousand demonstrators in Prague, over 2000 in Brno and hundred of protesters in other regional capitals.
Babis, who visited the Hradec Kralove Region on Monday, said the demonstrators were people who did not want to discuss things and argue.
People had an opportunity to sign a petition calling on Babis to resign as prime minister because of his criminal prosecuting and his listing among the agents of the former communist secret police StB. Over 237,000 people have signed it since late February when the petition campaign started. The organisers of the campaign want to have one million signatures under the petition by summer.
The billionaire Babis founded the ANO movement in 2011. He said he wants to run the country like a business. One year ago, Babis had to transfer his huge Agrofert holding company to trust funds because of a new law on conflict of interest. Agrofert is active in chemical industry, food processing, agriculture, forestry, energy and mass media. Babis’s critics claim that ANO is his project in which he makes all the decisions and which is to increase the profits of his businesses.
At some rallies, people also criticised President Milos Zeman and right-wing populist leader Tomio Okamura (Freedom and Direct Democracy, SPD).
“The situation in the country seems to me so deviated that I think it is necessary to join forces throughout the country and show that not only Prague is able to express its opinion,” Ida Cerna, organiser of the rally in Tabor, south Bohemia, told CTK.
Robert Elva Frouz, one of the organisers of the rally in Plzen, west Bohemia, called on Babis not to influence the investigation of his suspected EU subsidy fraud.
Vojtech Miler, who organised the rally in Liberec, east Bohemia, appealed to the Czech democratic parties to cooperate in an effort to save democracy.
In Zlin, central Moravia, the protesters carried banners “You Cannot Buy Us”, in Olomouc, central Moravia, they had banners saying “We Are Not Your Firm.”
