When giving a speech commemorating a time of great national pride, it isn't often that a president has to be protected from hurled garbage. But that's what happened on Monday in the Czech Republic.
Czech President Milos Zeman was delivering a speech marking the Velvet Revolution — the 1989 anti-communist uprising in Czechoslovakia — when protesters began slinging eggs, tomatoes, sandwiches, and other garbage at him.
Starting 25 years ago today, the start of the Velvet Revolution marked the non-violent change over from the old pro-Soviet regime after years of quiet disobedience. As other Communist governments teetered, following the fall of the Berlin Wall, students gathered to protest against the Czechoslovakian government and the Communist Party's 41 year-long rule.
After riot police suppressed the initial student-led protest, they were joined by older activists and others until the protests had swelled to include more than half a million people. The entire government resigned ten days later, clearing the path for the first democratic elections in decades the following June.
Thousands of Czechs turned out on Monday to protest Zeman, waving red cards to symbolize their desire to see him thrown out of office.
In particular, as Reuters notes, Czechs are disheartened with Zeman's pro-Russian stance on economic sanctions meant to punish Moscow for its actions in Ukraine. "You know, there is such a terminology win-win strategy," Zeman said during an interview with a Russian station last week. "And I have repeatedly said that there is also a contradiction loss-loss strategy, and in this case, sanctions are precisely such a loss-loss strategy, a strategy in which lose all, and no one has any advantage."
Zeman has also come under fire for his stance on Pussy Riot, the musical group arrested for denouncing Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling them hooligans who should not have been treated as political prisoners, calling them a "porno group." Czechs were shocked earlier this month when he swore live on-air repeatedly when trying to translate the group's name into Czech.
Zeman's pro-Russian stance, protesters fear, is exactly the opposite of ideals put forward by the Velvet Revolution.
"We are risking our name, our achievements, and our secure future," read an open letter signed this week by founders of Civic Forum, a body once led by Vaclav Havel, the playwright and dissident turned president.
Also caught in the crossfire: the presidents of Poland, Germany, Hungary and Slovakia, who had joined Zemin to unveil a plaque commemorating the Revolution.
Zeman's prime minister is due to visit the United States this week to commemorate the unveiling of a bust of Havel in the U.S. Capitol Building.
