Hundreds of thousands expected to rally against plan to scrap licence fees and fund broadcasters from state budget
Hundreds of thousands of Czechs are expected to rally in Prague on Sunday to protest against what they say is a government attempt to stifle media freedom.
The gathering to save the mandatory licence fees that fund Czechia’s public broadcasters could be one of the biggest in the nation’s history, organisers say.
It will mark 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.
Protesters say the plan to scrap licence fees and fund the broadcasters from the state budget would give ministers more leverage over newsrooms and follow the example of Slovakia, Hungary, Poland and Serbia, where current and previous rightwing populist governments eroded media independence.
The Million Moments for Democracy group that is organising the demonstration said the authorities would see the level of opposition. “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,” it said in a statement.
