This archive report was first published on 16 November 2019.
On the eve of the 30th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, a massive protest took place in Letna park, central Prague, with over 200,000 people in attendance, according to Czech police.
The protest, organised by the Million Moments for Democracy movement, comes as Prime Minister Andrej Babis faces a string of graft allegations and a conflict-of-interest probe by the European Commission centred on Agrofert, his sprawling farming, media and chemicals holding.
Babis has denied any wrongdoing, but protesters like Josef Plandor, a 43-year-old forestry worker from the eastern Czech village of Zasova, disagree. "I really don't like our prime minister's lies," Plandor told AFP. "His huge conflict of interest, his lies, fraud, there's too much of that. He's not an honest man," he added.
The protest is the latest in a series of demonstrations against Babis, who is also tagged as an agent in secret police files from the 1980s, something he has completely rejected.
With his minority coalition government propped up by the Communist Party in parliament, the Million Moments for Democracy movement is calling on Babis to either resolve his conflict of interest or step down.
As the largest protest since the Velvet Revolution, it marked a significant moment in Czech politics, with many demanding Babis' resignation.
