Last night hundreds of people gathered at the top of Wenceslaus Square in Prague.
I took a just few photos and wanted to share them with a few of my thoughts.
There were more protests going simultaneously. There was a similar-sized crowd gathered in front of the Russian Embassy and a group of a couple hundred was gathered near the National Theater, a traditional place of protest. There was a distinct lack of organization to this protest. Someone had left a pile of pens, paper and tape so people could add their own messages. People wandered through the crowd without focus on any particular point. There were a lot of families with small children. Occasionally someone would start up a chant. I personally can’t differentiate between Ukrainian and Russian and understand neither of them. I do speak Czech and a bit of Slavic similitude did drill its way through my thick head. I learned that about the harshest word that Czechs can use for a prostitute is also used in Ukraine. I’d never considered Putin’s promiscuity an issue, but folks are angry, frustrated, scared and sad. There were a couple vans from television crews set up near the back of the crowd. A few police officers politely kept the protesters from climbing on the monument. A choral group of about a dozen singers lined up at the edge of the street behind the monument and facing down the square began to sing the Ukrainian national anthem. There were a lot of Ukrainian flags and a few Belorussian flags in the crowd— at home later I looked up one I hadn’t recognized, the red crosses of the flag of Georgia. There were more people arriving when I left.
I found a good set of photos over on Respekt magazine’s website.
I’ve been glued to the local news reports on the war. I’m astonished at how united the response from Czech politicians has been. Even those who were earlier known for being creepily pro-Russia have condemned the unprovoked attacks on Ukraine. Yes, even President Zeman (notorious for changing his coat to match the current fashion in government and his obsequious Russian and Chinese boot-licking) has apologized for his previous downplaying of the situation and has joined the voices calling for Russia to be cut out of the SWIFT banking system.
Thursday evening the Prague football (soccer if you insist) club Slavia presented themselves in yellow shirts that read “We stand with Ukraine” and selected a Ukrainian teammate as captain. Yes, they won their match.
Over 200,000 Ukrainians live in the Czech Republic, the second largest group of foreign residents after Slovakians (and some of us don’t count them as foreigners). The Ukrainian Ambassador to the Czech Republic made a statement that he’s expecting some of them to return home to help defend their country.
I’m thinking this will not end anytime soon.