Tens of thousands of Czechs rally against government media funding plan

Estimated 350,000 people rally against plan to scrap licence fees and fund broadcasters from state budget

Hundreds of thousands of Czechs have rallied in Prague to protest against a perceived government attempt to stifle media freedom.

The gathering on Sunday to save the mandatory licence fees that fund Czechia’s public broadcasters drew more than 350,000 people, making it one of the biggest in the country’s history, organisers said.

Many people wore triangular paper hats similar to an animated TV character called Večerníček, a children’s bedtime story mascot who has become a symbol of the protest. Others carried banners saying: “We won’t give media away.”

View image in fullscreenPeople gathered at Letná Plain in Prague with banners and Czech national flags during the protest against the proposed changes to public service media funding. Photograph: Martin Divíšek/EPA

The event was held at the capital’s Letná Plain, the cradle of the 1989 Velvet Revolution which ended more than 40 years of communist rule in the country.

It marked the latest challenge to the prime minister, Andrej Babiš, and his coalition of populist, hard-right nationalist and Eurosceptic parties, and follows weeks of demonstrations in towns and cities and a strike by staff at Czech TV and Czech Radio.

Public media freedom has been eroded across central Europe. Now Czechs are rallying to protect theirsRead more

Protesters say the plan to scrap licence fees and fund the broadcasters from the state budget would give ministers more leverage over newsrooms and follows the example of Hungary, Poland, Serbia and Slovakia, where current and previous rightwing populist governments eroded media independence.

A series of protests has been held since late October, when the first reading of the bill to scrap the licence fees was pushed through in the middle of the night.

The Million Moments for Democracy group, which organised the demonstration, said the authorities would now grasp the level of opposition. “We do witness here something extraordinary today,” said Mikuláš Minář, the lead organiser. “It’s just a beginning.”

In a statement, the group demanded that the government withdraw its plan and expressed concern that Babiš and his coalition partners posed a threat to democracy. “Babiš and his government obviously think they will get away with anything … that they can ignore experts, silence critics and treat democratic institutions like their property,” the group said.

View image in fullscreenOrganisers said the protest in Prague could be one of the biggest in the country’s history. Photograph: David W Černý/Reuters

“We refuse the Slovak scenario,” said one protest banner. “Hands off the media,” said another.

Šárka Dumišincová, a singer, said for her the media represented freedom. “The fact that someone here is trying to control that freedom is unacceptable to me. That’s why I’m here today,” she told the Associated Press.

“We need to keep media independent. The government is taking steps to control them, cut their funding and affect what they broadcast,” computer programmer Jan Snasel told AFP at the rally.

The proposed changes, which would cut state television and radio budgets by about 15%, have drawn fire from international media organisations.

View image in fullscreenPeople protest in Prague against the proposed changes, which would cut state television and radio budgets by about 15%. Photograph: David W Černý/Reuters

The European Broadcasting Union, the European Federation of Journalists, Reporters Without Borders and the International Press Institute have also criticised the government’s media plan, likening it to controversial moves by Slovakia’s prime minister, Robert Fico, and Hungary’s former premier Viktor Orbán.

Babiš, a billionaire who returned to power last year, said protesters were riling up the public with unfounded claims about threats to media freedom.

Last week, he published an op-ed on what he called the “seven lies” being peddled by the opposition over the licence fees, which together add up to 205 koruna (£7) a month.

View image in fullscreenAndrej Babiš said protesters were riling up the public with unfounded claims. Photograph: Eva Kořínková/Reuters

“Anyone who talks about ‘nationalisation’ [of public media] is deliberately lying,” he wrote, describing the criticism as “hysterical outbursts”. “Under no circumstances will we interfere in editorial work.”

Babiš heads a coalition that includes his ANO, or YES, movement, the rightwing Motorists for Themselves and the anti-migrant and pro-Russian Freedom and Direct Democracy party. Despite the protests, ANO still enjoys the backing of about 30% in opinion polls.