Tens of thousands of Czechs rallied in Prague on Sunday against a government plan to cut a public media fee and move funding to the state budget — a policy critics say would dent the broadcasters’ independence and viability.
Organisers said Sunday’s turnout already exceeded an anti-government protest of more than 200,000 people in March and predicted it could end up as the largest demonstration since the Velvet Revolution in 1989 that swept away Communist rule and propelled dissident playwright Vaclav Havel to power.
Critics have compared the government’s media bill to changes in Hungary under former Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who built an array of pro-government media.
Opposition parties and civic groups also slammed the government for rushing through the initial bill in the middle of the night in October, calling for the ruling coalition to rescind the law.
“An elected government has the right to govern but it does not have the right to do whatever it wants and to dismantle democratic institutions,” said Mikulas Minar, chairman of the civic group Milion Chvilek (A Million Moments) that organised Sunday’s protest.
“Show that your aim is not to take control of them and let experts propose genuine safeguards for their independence from political power.
The populist government of billionaire Prime Minister Andrej Babis, backed by the far-right SPD and the eurosceptic Motorists parties, accuses Czech private and public media of bias.
Its draft bill would cancel a 205-crown ($9.26) monthly household broadcasting fee currently used for funding. The bill has passed a preliminary vote and awaits further debate.
Protesters, carrying signs that read “Hands off the media” and “Let media deal with politicians”, clogged nearby metro stations and filled Letna park overlooking the Czech capital. Speakers included students, soldiers and former dissidents who signed the Charter 77 initiative.
Many at the protest, staged days before a public holiday on November 17 that commemorates the start of the Velvet Revolution, wore pointed hats folded out of newspapers as a tribute to an animated character who has introduced Czech Television’s nightly children’s bedtime stories for decades.
