(Adnkronos) – The decision to remove the Ukrainian flag from the Parliament building, made by the new ‘speaker’, far-right exponent Tomio Okamura, has sparked considerable controversy in the Czech Republic. Founder of the Freedom and Direct Democracy (Spd) party, and critical of both the European Union and NATO, Okamura was elected Speaker of the Czech Chamber of Deputies on Wednesday. On social media, he shared a video showing the removal of the Ukrainian flag, during which he himself held the ladder an worker had climbed.
In protest, three parties from the outgoing center-right government raised the Ukrainian flag in the headquarters of their parliamentary groups, while the former Speaker of Parliament, Marketa Pekarova Adamova, described her successor’s gesture on X as “shameful”, stating that it was not only directed against Ukraine, but also against the fundamental values of the Czech Republic. Adamova had the flag raised on Parliament on February 22, 2022, two days before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as a sign of solidarity with Kyiv.
The National Museum in Prague also recently removed the enormous Ukrainian flag that was flying in front of its main entrance. The museum’s management stated that it wanted to use the space to advertise exhibitions and denied any political motivation. About a hundred people protested against the decision.
