Uproar over the Svobodny petition stand in Prague 12: Police intervention! Bruises from being pushed?

On Thursday afternoon, police officers went out to “put out” a dramatic argument on Sofijská náměstí in Modřany, where the regular Thursday markets were held. Brigadiers of the local organization of the political party Free people did not let the market organizers talk them out of the event, and curses flew through the air. They finally called the city police.

“Two men set up a petition stand in the occupation area reserved for markets. The informants repeatedly tried to explain this to the men with the petition stand, but in vain. The patrol checked the whole situation and, on the basis of that, called on the man to move the stand a little further,” said police spokeswoman Irena Seifertová.

According to her, however, one of the men kept repeating that he was entitled to run a petition stand at the market place. “He then contacted his superior by phone and handed the call over to the police. T“It was only after the patrol explained to his superior that the stand was built in an encroachment and in violation of the rules for the placement of petition stands that he was moved on the superior’s order,” she added.

The Markets Manager is bruised

According to the manager of local markets, Tomáš Trnka, there was no talk with the workers. “I have been walking around the markets since morning and I noticed that they have a stall at the seizure site. I know from the municipality that the market should not be associated with politics. I told them that they couldn’t be there at the point of capture and then they mounted me. One of them pulled my arm and I found out at home that I had bruises, I won’t go to the doctor about it, I’m a man. I’ve worked in pubs so I’ve experienced a lot. But I knocked myself out. I will be sixty years old this year. Three of them got on top of me and there was no talking to them. I was terrified. They called me a fascist and hurled vulgar abuse at me. They were not from the local organization of that party,” said Trnka.

Blesk addressed Tomáš Brotánek, the chairman of the local organization Svobodných in Prague 12. “I have no idea who it was or that such a thing would happen, so I won’t tell you about it,” he explained. “There was no assault in the presence of the policemen, and it does not appear from the official record eitherthat it would have been like that before their arrival, according to the testimony of those present,” commented city police spokeswoman Seiffertová.