Prague, April 20 (CTK) – A Prague district court has expelled foreigner from the Czech Republic for five years for having stolen a Tibetan flag during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Prague in late March, court spokeswoman Zuzana Barochova told CTK on Wednesday.
The man challenged the verdict, so the Prague 6 District Court, which issued the respective order on April 1, will have to deal with his case again in public proceedings.
The police detained the foreigner on March 28 during brawls between opponents and supporters of the Chinese president, while the latter were mainly Chinese.
The incident with the Tibetan flag occurred on the Evropska main street from the airport when the president’s motorcade was passing by. The police qualified the act as a theft of a thing that other persons had on or with them.
If found guilty, perpetrators of similar delicts face up to two years in prison.
The police did not release the foreigner’s name and citizenship, they only said he was born in 1975.
A perpetrator who is not a citizen of the Czech Republic can be expelled from the country for one to ten years, or possibly indefinitely, if it is required over the safety of people and property or other public interest.
About 1000 police officers were patrolling Prague streets during Xi Jinping’s three-day visit. A total of 23 demonstrators, both his followers and opponents, were detained and brought to police stations. Most incidents were qualified as misdemeanours.
The security measures cost some 16 million crowns, which corresponds to visits by others significant foreign politicians, the police chief said.
The police were mainly criticised for removing Tibetan flags flying on some buildings. However, the police dismissed the criticism, saying they had done so in two cases only without a forcible entry into dwelling.
