Czech Republic Marks 76th Anniversary of End of WWII in Europe
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In most European countries, May 8 is a national holiday that remembers the end of World War II in Europe.
This morning, Czech President Milos Zeman, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and other senior officials, including Speakers of the Senate and House of Representatives Miloš Vystrčil and Radek Vondráček, Minister of Defense Lubomír Metnar, will lay wreaths at the National Memorial in Prague to commemorate the 76th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe.
The reverent act will be preceded by a flight of two Gripen fighters and the national anthem, followed by a minute of silence for all who died for the Republic’s freedom and independence.
Deputies Discuss Proposal to allow Same-Sex Marriage
The Chamber of Deputies is considering legalizing same-sex marriage at an extraordinary session.
The lower house began negotiations on the matter in March 2019 but did not even finish the opening round of the debate. If the situation turns out differently today, the Czech Republic will get a chance to become the seventeenth European country and twenty-ninth country in the world to allow gay marriages.
Deputies were given red tulips on the way to work today. “We want to mark the anniversary of twenty years since the approval of marriage for all in the first country in the world, the Netherlands,” said Filip Milde of
Czech Activists Urge Lawmakers to Observe Pandemic Victims Day praguemorning.cz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from praguemorning.cz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Wednesday is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which marks the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau by Soviet forces in 1945. Due to the coronavirus, in lieu of traditional gatherings at Czech sites of remembrance, a memorial event at the parliament was broadcast live this morning, as will be a Czech-Israeli meeting and a gala concert at Prague’s Spanish Synagogue in the evening.
The spectre of the coronavirus, which has claimed so many lives, hung heavy in the air in a ceremonial chamber of the Senate; the echoing words of those honouring the memory of victims of the Holocaust, testimony to the extraordinary circumstances on the particular International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
A scuffle broke out on Thursday in the Czech parliament’s lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, after independent MP Lubomír Volný – who refused to wear his mask during the debate – was cut off during a debate on extending the COVID-19 state of emergency.
Volný grabbed the microphone of Social Democratic chairman Tomáš Hanzel after being cut off for speaking off-topic during a debate on extending the COVID-19 state of emergency.
Volný then walked up to the chairman’s seat, grabbed the microphone, tried to push the control buttons, and shoved other MPs who came to intervene.
House Speaker Radek Vondráček (ANO) later expelled Volný from the hall, suggesting that disciplinary proceedings will follow.