Czech man threatens to drive truck into a crowd if pubs don't reopen

A 62-year-old Czech man posted a threat on Facebook Sunday saying he'd drive a lorry into a crowd unless restaurants reopened, police headquarters spokeswoman Katerina Rendlova said in a press release today.

The man faces up to 15 years in prison for threats of terrorism, she added.

The man posted to a fake Facebook profile on Sunday evening, saying that if all restaurants and bars do not reopen the following day, he will drive into a crowd of people, killing them in the same method used by Czech mass murderer Olga Hepnarova, Rendlova said.

In October 1973, the young woman deliberately drove into people standing at a tram station in Prague to take her revenge on a society that treated her unfairly, she said. She killed eight people. A year later, she became the last woman executed in Czechoslovakia, where the death penalty was completely abolished in 1990.

Detectives from the National Center against Organized Crime (NCOZ) tracked down the man in two days. He pleaded guilty and said he regretted his actions, Rendlova said in the press statement. He is being prosecuted, but was not taken into custody. The Supreme State Attorney's Office is supervising the case.

"This case clearly shows that policemen are able to quickly track down a person on the social media despite the fake profile hiding," Rendlova added.

On October 5, the Czech government declared a state of emergency due to the coronavirus pandemic. Restaurants, bars and clubs closed on October 14, allowed to run take-away sales only.

The fact that the man committed his crime during the state of emergency could be an aggravating circumstance for him.