Prague, Oct 11 (CTK) – The Prague City Hall is planning to enhance security in the city centre and it may install concrete blocks there, also at its medieval landmark, the Charles Bridge, daily Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) wrote on Wednesday.
The 14-century Charles Bridge is the oldest bridge in the capital.
“Along with the police, we are preparing a plan of installing barriers if there are various degrees of threat to the state,” City Hall spokesman Vit Hofman told the paper.
Deputy mayor for transport Petr Dolinek said the Charles Bridge was being envisaged.
“However, I cannot imagine one of the most photographed landmarks to be made ugly by yellow concrete blocks, the same which are already on the Old Town Square,” Dolinek said.
“This is yet to be an affair for negotiations,” he added.
The installation may also be prompted by the incident from late September when a coach with tourists rode directly onto the bridge due to the driver’s error, MfD writes.
On its Lesser Town side, there is no barrier post that would prevent vehicles from driving in for several years.
As a result, it is easy to drive onto the Charles Bridge if a driver overlooks the no entry traffic sign. The barrier post disappeared during the floods in 2013, MfD writes.
It was taken away to free the way for heavy machines that were removing the debris accumulated under the bridge.
Some time ago, Prague decided to invest in new CCTV systems in the Parizska Street leading to Old Town Square.
Prague already used the concrete blocks within the Birell Grand Prix Prague 2017 at the Wenceslas Square and in some streets, MfD writes.
Czech regional capitals are not considering installing concrete barriers, preferring the relocation of risk events to safer areas, it adds.
When reconstructing their centres, they are taking the security aspect into account.
In Zlin, south Moravia, its central square is to include some security elements. It is already protected by heavy concrete flowerpots and metal pylons.
Ceske Budejovice, the capital of South Bohemia Region, has also bought concrete barriers, but it does not want to install them permanently, only for some occasional events, MfD writes.
