Czechia weekend news brief: Oct. 15–16, 2022

Several hundred people gathered in Prague's Wenceslas Square Saturday at a rally staged by Czech groups supporting Ukraine faced with Russian aggression. The event was held on the occasion of Ukraine Defender Day falling on Oct. 14, which was also observed in more than 70 other cities in a number of countries.

Participants carried flags of Ukraine, the EU, and NATO. Last week several hundred people gathered in Wenceslas Square to protest against the Russian bombing of Ukrainian cities and call for the West's stronger support for Kyiv.

Fifty years after the end of the trolleybus operations in Prague, a trial operation of the trolleybus line from Letňany to Čakovice was launched Saturday. For now, trolleybuses will run on the lines only on weekends. The operation will be serviced by a car borrowed from Hradec Králové, according to Prague's transit authority.

The 10th annual Signal Festival of light and digital culture ends today in Prague. Admission to most of the program is free. The gallery zone includes six places, for which you need to buy a Signal Plus ticket, with which you can visit the works repeatedly. 

With the start of the winter flight schedule, LOT Polish Airlines will increase connections between Prague and Warsaw, reports Zdopravy.cz. The Warsaw-Prague flight will now take off five times daily between the two cities, with the exception of four pairs of connections on Sundays. 

The expansions put the number of flights at a total of 34 connections per week. LOT still does not have flights from Ostrava in its reservation system from the end of January but a spokesperson says the line will still continue.

In Bratislava, 15,000 people came to a rally in support of LGBTQ+ rights on Friday evening, reports Slovak server Denník. President Zuzana Čaputová, Roman Samotný, who is the owner of the Tepláreň bar (outside of which Wednesday's fatal shootings of two gay men took place), politicians, church representatives, and community members addressed the crowd.

In Prague, people continue to gather at the Slovak embassy to honor the memory of the victims of the shooting in Bratislava. An organized commemorative event Friday was attended by hundreds of people.

President Miloš Zeman has not offered his condolences to his Slovak counterpart or commented on the murders.

The Chamber of Deputies has approved the abolition of the paper version of the large technical license for vehicles. Owners will now only need to have one document for the car with technical data about the vehicle. The change should apply from 2024, reports Zdopravy.

"Thanks to digitization, we will save millions of crowns, and drivers' nerves and get rid of unnecessary bureaucracy. All important data will be available electronically, possibly on a small technical card," said Transport Minister Martin Kupka.

The Ministry plans to launch its Transport Portal this year, with transport-related services as well as the introduction of electronic submission for applications to replace or update a driver's license.

Saturday will be cloudy, with occasional rain in most areas, decreasing precipitation, and breaking clouds in the afternoon and evening, according to the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute. The highest temperatures will reach 12 to 16 degrees Celsius and occasionally jump to 18 degrees in Bohemia.

The Old Catholic Church in the Czech Republic will allow both men and women to receive priestly and episcopal ordination. Ordination of women as deacons has been possible since 2003, and four women have been ordained since then." Thus, we place ourselves alongside the majority of the Old Catholic and Anglican churches in the world," wrote the Old Catholic priest and secretary of the Ecumenical Council of Churches, Petr Jan Vinš. 

The Old Catholic Church also approved the possibility of blessing same-sex partnerships and condemned the recent attack against LGBTQ+ people in Bratislava. Today, Old Catholic Union of Utrecht churches are found mainly in Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, and the Czech Republic.

Saturday, Oct. 15 is International Archeology Day. Taking place every year on the third Saturday in October, the day sees archaeological organizations around the world offer a special program. The Czech Republic has celebrated the day for nine years. ČT24 put together tips for marking the day. In Prague, Charles University has a full program.