British daily The Times lists Czech protest organizer among its 20 Rising Stars

London, Jan 3 (CTK) – The Times British daily has listed Mikuláš Minář, 26, the organiser of the anti-government demonstrations in the Czech Republic, among the 20 “Rising Stars” to look out for in 2020.

He is in the company of such personalities as new Bavarian Minister-President Markus Soder, Russian opposition activist Yegor Zhukov and Spanish Princess Leonor.

University student Minář is the chairman of the Million Moments for Democracy NGO, staging mass protests against PM Andrej Babis (ANO), a billionaire businessman prosecuted on suspicion of an EU subsidy fraud, and for independent judiciary in Prague and other Czech towns.

They culminated by big rallies attended by more than 250,000 people each on the Prague-Letna square in June and November, the biggest demonstrations since the November 1989 Velvet Revolution that triggered the fall of the Communist regime.

“Thirty years after the key-jangling marches that ushered in the Velvet Revolution and freed Czechoslovakia from communism, the young people of Prague are back on the streets almost every week. This time the targets of the protests are Milos Zeman and Andrej Babis, the president and prime minister, who are accused of undermining the rule of law and allowing corruption to flourish,” The Times writes.

The paper also says that Minář, “a Charles University philosophy student with a penchant for bright yellow clothes and a distinct resemblance to Damian Lewis,” is becoming “a key player in the country’s politics.”