Tens of thousands of people rallied in Prague and other parts of the Czech Republic on Sunday to back President Petr Pavel as he sparred with Foreign Minister Petr Macinka over a proposed government appointment, drawing supporters to Old Town Square and, in some cases, to Wenceslas Square where speeches were shown on big screens.
Supporters waved Czech, Ukrainian and European Union flags and held up posters showing Pavel alongside banners reading “Long Live Pavel,” according to the account of the demonstration in the capital. Smaller rallies supporting Pavel also took place in multiple other locations across the country.
At the center of the dispute was Pavel’s refusal to appoint Filip Turek as environment minister, with Pavel citing concerns about posts attributed to Turek from his Facebook page. Pavel said he considered Turek ineligible after daily published posts from the Facebook page were found to be openly racist, homophobic and sexist.
Turek apologized for some posts, but denied that he had made other posts, setting up a dispute between Pavel’s eligibility assessment and Turek’s own response. Macinka, for his part, accused the president of violating the Czech Constitution and warned that Pavel could face consequences if he did not proceed with the appointment.
Pavel rejected Macinka’s warning, saying he considered the move to pressure him over the ministerial nomination to be a blackmail attempt. Pavel said he was planning to meet populist Prime Minister Andrej Babiš over the issue on Wednesday, framing the appointment fight as part of a broader political standoff inside the government.
Pavel’s position comes shortly after he swore in a new government on Dec. 15, when Babiš’s ANO, or YES, movement won big in October’s election and formed a majority coalition with two smaller political groups: the Freedom and Direct Democracy anti-migrant party and the Motorists for Themselves Euro-skeptic party. The same coalition, the report said, has on its agenda to steer the country away from supporting Ukraine and to reject some key European Union policies.
While Pavel is part of the incoming government’s political environment, he is also described as a staunch supporter of Ukraine in its fight against the Russian invasion, a stance that contrasts with the coalition’s stated agenda and helps explain why the appointment dispute has attracted a public show of support.
The Sunday rallies underscored how quickly a personnel dispute over a proposed ministership became a broader dispute about presidential authority and constitutional boundaries within the Czech political system, with supporters showing up in large numbers to argue that Pavel should be backed in his refusal to appoint Turek.