Massive Economic Protest Sees Demonstrators Call for Czech Government’s Resignation

Amid mounting economic woes, thousands of flag-waving Czechs filled Prague’s iconic Wenceslas Square on Sunday afternoon to demand the resignation of the country’s five-party coalition government, with many urging peace in Ukraine and for the Czech Republic to leave NATO.

Organized by the new non-parliamentary party Law, Respect, Expertise (PRO), the rally, the second of its kind to take place in just over a month, saw thousands of people—under the banner “against poverty”—gather in the capital city’s main square, before walking to the Straka Academy, the seat of the government, the online newspaper iDNES reports.

Protesters, most of whom accuse Prime Minister Petr Fiala’s center-Right government of being overly concerned with Ukraine while neglecting the needs of Czechs, were seen carrying banners with the words “Away with NATO,” “No war,” and “Lying government and media.”

“We are here to stand up for our country and for our Czech Republic. We want to take down the five-coalition Fiala government with a non-violent civil protest,” Jindrich Rajchl, a lawyer who serves as the head of the PRO party, said at the beginning of his speech.

“Collect the last remnants of your honor, realize that you are not up to [the task], and resign,” he said, referring to Fiala’s government.

Rajchl, the main organizer of the event, called Czech Defense Minister Jana Cernochova

“The biggest security risk for our country” due to her pro-war stance. Rajchl rejected claims that he and his party are pro-Russian.

Protesters like Renata Urbanova, who traveled to Prague from the southern city of Pisek, told the press that Fiala’s government is “full of warmongers” and complained that their policies are “making [Czechs] suffer.” She complained that “energy is too expensive and so is food.”