The Czech government now excludes demonstrations from its ban on events over 500 people

Prague, June 9 (CTK) – According to the Minister of Health Adam Vojtěch (for YES), the government’s restriction of public events to a maximum of 500 people due to the risk of COVID-19 infection does not apply to demonstrations under the Assembly Act.

By adjusting the definition of the ban, he reacted to recent debates on whether the ban applies to demonstrations in a situation where the Million Moments for Democracy group is organizing protests against the government and PM Andrej Babis (ANO) at 145 places in the Czech Republic today.

The priority of the cabinet is to protect citizens’ health, but the government has never banned demonstrations, Vojtech tweeted.

“In order to prevent doubts, we are exempting rallies held in accordance with the right to assemble from the ban of events for more than 500 people,” Vojtech tweeted.

The organizers of yesterday’s protests planned to hold the meeting in Prague with a limited number of participants. They said they would file an administrative complaint over the restrictive ban.

On Monday, Deputy PM Jan Hamacek (Social Democrats, CSSD) said on behalf of the Interior Ministry that a restriction on the right to free would inappropriately infringe upon human rights. He added that police would not intervene against a rally with a higher number of participants if it remained peaceful.

PM Babis said on Tuesday that the convoked protests should be exempted from the ban so that over 500 people could join them.

rtj/dr/bas