Czech court overturns ban on pro-Palestinian protest

By Ebad Ahmed

PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AA) - A Czech court overturned a ban on a scheduled pro-Palestine protest late Monday that City Hall denied because of the “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free” slogan.

The Prague City Hall banned the scheduled Dec. 5 protest on Nov. 30, because it said: “The purpose of the assembly is to call for the denial and restriction of the personal and political rights of persons because of their nationality, origin, political and religious beliefs.”

The court disagreed and maintained that the slogan had multiple meanings and did not convey an unequivocally violent or genocidal message.

“Thus, the conditions for banning gatherings under Section 10 (1) of the Assembly Act have not been met. One lit. a) of the Act on the Right of Assembly,” the presiding judge said in his ruling. “The court took into account that the defendant had failed to prove that the convener was connected to radical or terrorist groups. The prosecutor announced the gathering in front of the Ministry of the Interior building, i.e., in a place where there was no immediate threat to the Jewish community. Previous ‘pro-Palestinian’ gatherings in Prague did not point to the use of this slogan in its extremist sense.”

Since the start of the Israel-Hamas conflict, the Czech government has taken a strong pro-Israel stance.

Prime Minister Petr Fiala attended a pro-Israel demonstration at Prague’s Old Town Square to express the state’s official position. Czechia is among 10 countries that voted against a UN General Assembly resolution that called for a humanitarian cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.