Demonstration Czechia against poverty, called by the party Pravo Respekt Odbornost (PRO), March 11, 2023, Prague.
Prague – The Prague police deny that they fanned the situation at Saturday's demonstration on Wenceslas Square and during the subsequent violent attempt to break into the National Museum building. Police spokeswoman Violeta Siřišťová announced this on Twitter today. According to her, the policemen's approach was passive, they started using coercive means only when some participants escalated their aggressiveness and did not respond to repeated calls. The police secured 20 people at the museum, three police officers were injured. The Czech anti-poverty anti-government demonstration was called by the Právo Respekt Odbornost (PRO) party, which in a statement on Sunday hinted at the possible participation of provocateurs in the event. According to the Minister of the Interior, Vít Rakušan (STAN), the intervention was professional.
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Photo gallery: Czech demonstration against poverty
After the official end of Saturday's event at around 17:00, some of the participants tried to remove the Ukrainian flag from the facade of the National Museum. According to the police, a man with a megaphone incited the participants leaving Wenceslas Square to take down the Ukrainian flag from the National Museum building. “Several hundred people took up his call, demanding to enter the building. They were prevented from doing so by the police. However, the aggression of these people increased considerably, so the commander of the measures decided to deploy reinforcements,” the spokeswoman said. She added that the instigator was arrested by the police, and his actions are now being investigated by criminal investigators.
“All the while, the policemen's approach was passive and defensive, and there was no question of inflaming the situation. On the contrary, in many cases, the policemen had to deal with indiscriminate behavior, whether with verbal or, in a few cases, physical attacks, and they started using coercive measures only in a time when some participants escalated their aggressiveness and did not respond to repeated calls,” said Siřišťová.
Among other things, she reacted to today's tweet by MP Jana Mračková Vildumetzová (ANO), who shared a video of the intervention with the comment that a man in a brown hood would give the police an order to attack and thus provoke a conflict. “I believe that the police had a relevant reason. The video only shows a small part of what happened. However, Minister Vít Rakušan should explain it to refute the speculation,” she said.
According to police, the man captured on the video was a plainclothes criminal who had information from museum security that a protester had been inside the museum a few minutes before, where he most likely wanted to tear down the flag. “That's why police officers from the special order unit arrested the man on suspicion of a misdemeanor,” said the spokeswoman. In total, she secured 20 people at the museum for disobeying the summons. Three police officers were injured during the operation and taken to hospital. According to the spokesperson, the police officers are still evaluating the footage of the incident in front of the National Museum and will determine the legal qualifications.
The PRO party said in a statement on Sunday that the attempts to tear down the flag from the museum building only occurred after the demonstration ended. At the same time, she hinted at the possible participation of provocateurs at the event. “From the video recordings of the incident, which were subsequently published, one cannot avoid the conclusion that at least some of the 'civilian persons' who intentionally provoked or actively participated in the riots at this place acted as if they had detailed knowledge and experience from tactical training Police of the Czech Republic or other branches of the armed forces,” PRO said in a statement.
According to the Minister of the Interior, the police intervention was professional. In the first phase, he was defensive, then she had to respond adequately to the violence, the Austrian said already on Sunday in the program Otázky Václav Moravec on Czech Television.
