Czech police are denying that a method of restraint led to the death of a Roma man after video of an arrest sparked widespread outrage on social media. Roma say the incident draws parallels to the death of George Floyd. Video footage of a police officer kneeling on the neck of a Romany man who later died in an ambulance is being shared among Czechs on social media, leading many to compare his treatment to that of George Floyd. The video, shot on 19 June, shows three police officers in Teplice, detaining a Romany man on the floor. As one officer holds the man’s feet, another appears to kneel on his neck, and a third try to handcuff him. Voices of several Roma bystanders are heard in the video. In a statement released Monday, Czech police said the “aggressive” man was under the influence of methamphetamine and died in an ambulance on the way to the hospital after the police subdued him and noticed he was not showing signs of life. “No ‘Czech Floyd,” police posted on Twitter Monday, adding the man had been a “repeat offender.” They cite a preliminary post mortem examination that finds he suffered “pathological changes to...
Czech lawmakers approved an amendment that will enshrine the right to use a weapon in self-defense in the Czech constitution – a new right that will be included in the country’s Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms. The amendment was approved in reaction to the revised EU’s Firearms Directive applicable since 2018, setting stricter rules regarding the possession and acquisition of firearms and banning certain types of semi-automatic weapons. The EU directive was revised in response to the 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris. The Czech Republic opposed the proposal and challenged the directive before the EU Court of Justice in Luxembourg, but without success. Currently, there are more than 300,000 gun-owners in the Czech Republic. Possession of firearms has also been considered an attribute of liberty after they were banned during Nazi occupation and then allowed only for those loyal to the Communist regime in the 20th century. According to Czech lawmakers, the new amendment will prevent further restrictions and strengthen the Czech position in talks on the future EU firearms regulation. The constitutional amendment stems from a petition written by Czech arms owners, sport shooters and hunters. The petition was signed by more than 100,000 people.
Citymapper for iOS and Android has been launched in Prague, as part of their European expansion. The award-winning urban navigation app (Apple’s “Apps of the Year” for 5 years in a row and Google’s Editors’ Choice) helps find the best route by integrating data from all public transport providers, with real-time information and step-by-step guidance for each leg of the journey. What makes Citymapper stand out against the competition is the depth of their transport data and the integration of all transport modes. As cities become more multimodal and new modes like e-bikes, scooters, mopeds, carsharing, and ride-hailing are starting to complement traditional public transport, Citymapper has integrated them all, so users can get from A to B in every way possible. Through its transit data factory with dozens of custom-built tools and a team of analysts, Citymapper generates the most accurate information everywhere, including real-time departures, delays, re-routes, best carriages, most convenient station exits and real-time traffic analysis. About Citymapper Citymapper is the ultimate transport app and technology for mobility in cities. Citymapper has expanded to over 90 urban areas, now covering the majority of the US, Europe, and many cities across the world.
From July 19, EasyJet is launching its new scheduled flight from Prague to Barcelona. The airline company will offer three connections a week from Václav Havel Airport. Three-weekly flights to Barcelona will start on 19 July, operating on Fridays, Sundays, and Mondays. The price of a one-way ticket is around CZK 700. “Spain has long been one of the most sought-after tourist destinations throughout the year. The new EasyJet connection confirms this interest and will bring other travel alternatives between Prague and Barcelona in the main season,” said Jaroslav Filip, Director of Prague Airport Aviation Business. Barcelona has been one of the most popular destinations for Czech travelers for many years. However, direct flights from Prague to the popular city are currently operated only by Vueling. Ryanair is also planning to return to the capital of Catalonia as part of the winter flight schedule. Learn more about the flight schedule on the carrier’s website. Eurowings to open Prague base in October Eurowings is expanding its European network: with the opening of a new basis in Prague, the German airline is expanding its services in Eastern Europe and will initially station two Airbus A320 aircraft in the Czech capital from 31 October 2021. In...
Last summer and this, Prague city poured millions of Czech crowns into campaigns to attract domestic tourists. The government will be delivering 500 million CZK in the form of vouchers worth 3,000 CZK, (for children under the age of eighteen – 1000 CZK). As reported by the minister for regional development, Klára Dostálová, visitors attracted by Prague’s marketing drive to use accommodation services can claim vouchers offering entry to a wide array of attractions and cultural performances. Rail and bus operators, restaurants, and breweries have also been recruited to expand the network of potential freebies. The full range of benefits can be managed via the At Home in Prague app. “Regions have expressed interest in this program. From our point of view, it seems reasonable that a tourist’s stay should be at least three nights. We want people to stay in Prague and make the most of its recreation opportunities,” Dostalova said. She recalled that 76% of Czechs plan to spend their current vacation in the country. However, most often we are talking about boarding houses, and various campsites in nature, while large cities risk being left out. Vouchers will be equally funded by the Ministry of Regional Development and...
For the first time in history, the Czech Republic is richer than Italy and Spain. It follows from 2020 data from the International Monetary Fund, processed for the FX Street server by Lukáš Kovanda, chief economist of the government’s National Economic Council. Czechs are also happier than the French and the British. According to data presented by FX Street, the net income of the average Czech, including children and pensioners, increased by more than 600 percent since 1989 from less than CZK 2,000 (€78.20) to more than CZK 15,000 (€587) in 2018. The change is mainly due to the transition from a planned to a market economy after the fall of the communist regime in 1989. The first half of the 1990s was crucial, characterized by privatization, restitution, foreign owner input, and economic liberalization in general. The past 30 years represent the most successful period in Czech history from an economic point of view. The evidence of that is the rise of the country in the Fraser Institute World Economic Freedom Index from 101st to 20th place since 1990. However, FX Street also draws attention to the pay inequality that increased after 1989, when a new elite of the wealthiest...
Twelve thousand households in the Czech Republic remain without electricity on Tuesday as a result of floods and strong winds after technicians disconnected dozens of transformer stations. Gas supplies have also been turned off in areas from which people have been evacuated. Two thousand people found themselves without electricity in southern Bohemia. “We have seen six faults on the high voltage line. The outages concern the surroundings of Vyšší Brod, Olšina and Chyšek in the Český Krumlov region,” said Roman Šperňák from the energy company E.ON. Heavy torrential rain partially paralyzed traffic in Zlín. “At approximately 7:15 a.m., the underpass under the railway line in Zlín in Dlouhá Street was flooded and road traffic was interrupted,” said Vojtěch Cekota, spokesman for the Zlín – Otrokovice Transport Company. Meteorologists issued a weather warning until Wednesday. They say wind speeds could reach up to 70 meters per second in central and south-western parts of the country.
Plzeňský Prazdroj’s net profit fell by twenty percent to 3.8 billion crowns last year. Revenues decreased by more than CZK 1 billion year-on-year to almost CZK 16 billion. The main reason for the decline in economic results was the long-term closure of beer halls due to the coronavirus pandemic and the associated lower beer sales, the company said in a press release. The largest domestic brewery sold almost 11.2 million hectoliters of beer in the Czech Republic and abroad last year, down 4.2 percent year on year. Sales in the Czech Republic fell by eight percent year on year to 6.69 million hectoliters, while sales abroad rose by one percent to 4.52 million hectoliters. “Neither the greater interest in bottled and canned beer in the Czech Republic nor the maintenance of foreign sales at the level of 2019 could compensate for the losses caused by domestic restrictions on restaurants and pubs. In the pre-Eve period, draft beer accounted for 40 percent of our sales and fell by almost a third,“ CEO Dragos Constantinescu said today. Last year, the brewery remained in the group of the 20 largest domestic taxpayers in the Czech Republic, when it put five billion crowns into...
The Dancing House, designed by Vlad Milunić and the famous architect Frank Gehry, has become an icon of modern architecture and one of the most famous buildings in Prague. The building is metaphorically called the Dancing House or also Ginger and Fred, because of the towers reminding of the famous dancers Ginger Rogers and Fred Astair, a famous pair from the classic 1930s Hollywood movies. The male part of the dancing couple is represented by a rock tower and the woman is symbolized by a tower made of glass, while the top of the male tower is covered with imaginary hair. The interiors were partly designed by the British architect of Czech provenience Eva Jiřičná. Vaclav Havel was the one who had the idea to build a house with a view here 30 years ago – a place that would serve as an art gallery and at the same time complete the street that had been empty for more than 40 years. A Neo-Baroque house used to stand here in the past, but it was destroyed by an American bomb after an accidental airstrike on Prague in 1945. Being an artist himself, Havel loved all kinds of art, thus he more...
The Russian veterinary and phytosanitary service have banned the import of feed and its ingredients from the Czech Republic, the Russian news agency TASS announced. The Czech Ministry of Agriculture responded today by announcing that feed in the Czech Republic is produced per European Union regulations and is safe. “This decision was made by the Office based on unsatisfactory results of an inspection of Czech companies that are authorized to supply feed and additives to Russia,” said Rosselchoznadzor (Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance). In its report, it also states that the inspections focused on confirming the guarantees to which the Czech State Veterinary Administration undertook that the relevant establishments would meet the requirements of the Eurasian Economic Union. “The results of the joint work of the Rosselkhoznadzor and the Veterinary and Food Service of the Republic of Belarus have shown that the competent authority of the Czech Republic does not carry out systematic inspections of establishments exporting feed and feed additives to the Eurasian Economic Union. According to the Russian veterinary and phytosanitary service, the Czechs also, among other things, “do not carry out a full-fledged investigation into detected irregularities” and the Russian-Belarusian inspection found “several violations” in...
Video footage from Teplice is being massively shared through social media of police intervention against a young Romani man who later died in the ambulance called to the scene. Romani community members are comparing his death to the death of George Floyd, the Black man who was murdered by police in the USA last year. One of the intervening police officers kneeled for several minutes on the man’s neck. The young man later died in the ambulance called to the scene by police. Police say their intervention was not the cause of death, but that the drugs the Romani man is said to have used were the cause of death. Michal Miko, director of the Romanonet organization, has posted online that what the video shows is “The height of brutality.” Michal Mižigár, a Romani student of history and Romani Studies who won the Aspen Central Europe Leadership Award in 2019 from the Aspen Institute Central Europe, commented that the footage shows “The Romani Floyd today in Teplice!” The footage circulating on social media shows three officers intervening against a young man who keeps trying to get out from under them. One officer holds the man’s feet, another then kneels on...
Travellers from other countries can now enter Greece without being subject to restrictive measures imposed to halt the spread of the virus if they present a negative result of the COVID-19 rapid antigen test. In addition, the Hellenic Republic’s authorities have also decided to exempt children under the age of 12 from the COVID-19 requirements, including proof that they have tested negative for the virus, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports. According to an announcement published by Greece’s Ministry of Tourism, the changes mentioned above will be applied to citizens from countries in which travel for tourism purposes to and from Greece has been permitted. Such measures introduced by the Greek authorities also contribute to making the travel process easier for internationals during the summer season. The Hellenic Republic allows entry for all tourists who obtain the EU’s COVID-19 vaccine passport in digital or printed form. “The purpose of all control protocols is to facilitate travellers who wish to visit our country, along with the constant and absolute priority care for the preservation of health safety, both tourists and Greek citizens,” Greece’s Ministry of Tourism has announced. Authorities in Athens continue to apply an entry ban for third-country nationals to prevent the further spread of the virus....
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