Thousands rallied in the Czech capital of Prague on Sunday to protest the government’s restrictive measures to tackle a record surge of coronavirus infections.
The protesters included members and supporters of a number of fringe political parties and groups that failed to win any parliamentary seats in October’s election. It was their third protest in the last two weeks. The participants didn’t wear face coverings or follow social distancing rules and drank beer despite a ban on drinking alcohol in public.
At Prague’s Letna Park, the protesters chanted “Freedom!” and “We’ve had enough!” while displaying banners that discouraged getting vaccinated such as ones reading“My body my choice."
Health workers at the Motol University Hospital carry one of the patients with COVID-19, who was transported to Prague from a hospital in Brno, Czech Republic, Thursday, Nov. 25, 2021. COVID spread reaches another record in Czech Republic, with 27,717 new confirmed COVID cases on Thursday, another daily maximum since the start of the epidemic. (Vit Simanek CTK via AP)
Police didn’t intervene.
The country has been setting repeated records in new daily infections, hitting a record high of almost 28,000 cases on Thursday. The infection rate was at 1,191 new cases per 100,000 residents over the past seven days. Overall, the nation of 10.7 million has registered over 2.1 million cases with 32,837 COVID-related deaths. It has lower vaccination rates than many other EU nations.
The Czech government declared a 30-day state of emergency and imposed additional coronavirus restrictions Friday in its effort to tackle the surge. Among them, all Christmas markets across the country were banned and bars, restaurants, nightclubs, discotheques and casinos have to close at 10 p.m.
A general view of a Christmas market in Old Town Square in Prague, Czech Republic, Friday, Nov. 26, 2021. Due to the high rise in COVID-19 infections, Czech government banned Christmas markets in the whole country as of the evening of Friday Nov. 26, 2021. (Roman VondrousCTK via AP)
The number of people at cultural and sports events in the Czech Republic is now limited to 1,000 who are vaccinated or have recovered from COVID-19 while all other public gatherings can be attended by only up to 100 visitors, down from 1,000.
Follow all AP stories on the pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic