Petr Pavel, President of the Czech Republic, at the Munich Security Conference.Image: Anadolu
Feb 15, 2026, 10:13 p.mFeb 15, 2026, 10:13 p.m
Thousands of people took to the streets in more than 400 cities and towns in the Czech Republic to demonstratively support liberal President Petr Pavel. As the CTK news agency reported, the rally participants followed a call from the “Million Moments for Democracy” initiative to support the head of state in a dispute with the right-wing populist government.
According to the organizers, up to 90,000 participants had already gathered in the capital Prague on February 1st for a rally with the same goal. This time the other cities and smaller municipalities in the country should follow suit. On March 21st, the same protest initiative wants to hold a mass rally on Letna Hill in Prague with the slogan “We will not let our future be stolen!” organize.
“I stand with the president”
According to CTK information, 8,000 to 10,000 people came together in the Czech Republic’s second largest city Brno (Brno in Czech), while in some smaller towns there were only a few hundred. Photos and videos published in the media of the rallies in cities such as Ostrava and Pardubice showed people carrying pictures of President Pavel. But there were also banners with crossed-out photos of members of the government or with slogans such as “I stand with the president” or “I am ashamed of the current government”.
Dispute over ministerial positions
At the end of January, President Pavel said that Foreign Minister Petr Macinka, who is also party leader of the co-ruling Motorists party, was trying to blackmail him. The motorists are demanding a ministerial post for their honorary chairman Filip Turek. However, he is said to have made racist and sexist comments in the past, which is why Pavel rejects him.
The coalition made up of Prime Minister Andrej Babis’s ANO party, the Motorists and the ultra-right Freedom and Direct Democracy party has a majority of 108 of the 200 seats in the House of Representatives. (sda/dpa)