Information about the meeting of sympathy with Chechen hunger strikers in Ingushetia that took place in Prague on July 19
Photo:
František Vlček
On Thursday, July 19, 2001, between 2 – 5 p.m., next to the statue of St Wenceslas in the Wenceslas Square in the very centre of Prague, there was a public meeting of sympathy with Chechen refugees in Ingushetia who went on a hunger strike a month ago, protesting against the war and calling for talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov.
The meeting, which was organised by SOS Chechnya Committee and Prague Watchdog, was attended by Chechen refugees living in the Czech Republic, by people who intentionally came to express their support to the hunger strikers as well as by accident passers-by, with the number of the participants in the meeting fluctuating between 40 and 100 people. Last but not least, well-known figures, namely university professor Tomáš Halík (one of the proposed candidates to replace Václav Havel as President of the Czech Republic), bishop Václav Malý, chairwoman of the Freedom Union party Hana Marvanová and sociologist Jiřina Šiklová, were also present.
Shortly after 4 p.m. statements were read. Besides representatives of the SOS Chechnya Committee and Prague Watchdog, the speakers included a representative of the Chechen refugees living in the refugee camp in Straz pod Ralskem, bishop Václav Malý, and university professor Tomáš Halík. At the end of the meeting “The Appeal to Czech Politicians” was read. The Appeal, aimed at getting Czech politicians involved in the anti-war efforts, will now be distributed to top representatives of the Czech political scene.
During the three hours of the meeting, over 160 people signed the petition “Stop the War in Chechnya”. A crushing majority of the signers actually joined the chain hunger strike, with each person scheduled to be on the symbolical one-day hunger strike on a day of their choice (a report on the progress of the symbolical chain hunger strike will be published on Prague Watchdog's website soon). The petition can still be signed - and the symbolical one-day chain hunger strike can be joined - at http://www.watchdog.cz/petition.
For further information please contact Prague Watchdog via mail (at) watchdog.cz.
P.S.: As regards media coverage, two out of four nationwide Czech TV channels and one local TV channel, a reporter of the Czech News Agency (ČTK) and journalists of the Czech Radio 6 and RFE/RL – Radio Svoboda came to the venue as well, not to mention at least two plain-clothes members of the Czech secret service who were monitoring the event (the Czech authorities were afraid that the Chechens in Czech refugee camps could go on an unlimited hunger strike). All the above-mentioned media reported on the event on the same day, while the Czech press on the next day virtually ignored the event.
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