PRAGUE
\nAn estimated 70,000 people protested in Prague against the Czech government on Saturday, calling on the ruling coalition to do more to control soaring energy prices and voicing opposition to the European Union and NATO.
\nOrganisers of the demonstration from a number of far-right and fringe political groups including the Communist party, said the central European nation should be neutral militarily and ensure direct contracts with gas suppliers, including Russia.
\nPolice estimates put the number of protesters at around 70,000 by mid-afternoon.
\n\u201cThe aim of our demonstration is to demand change, mainly in solving the issue of energy prices, especially electricity and gas, which will destroy our economy this autumn,\u201d event co-organizer Jiri Havel told iDNES.cz news website.
\nThe protest at Wenceslas Square in the city centre was held a day after the government survived a no-confidence vote amid opposition claims of inaction against inflation and energy prices.
\nThe vote showed how Europe\u2019s energy crisis is fuelling political instability as soaring power prices stoke inflation, already at levels unseen in three decades.
\nPrime Minister Petr Fiala, who leads the centre-right, five-party coalition, told CTK news service on Saturday that the protesters did not have the country\u2019s best interests at heart.
\n\u201cThe protest on Wenceslas Square was called by forces that are pro-Russian, are close to extreme positions and are against the interests of the Czech Republic,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PRAGUE An estimated 70,000 people protested in Prague against the Czech government on Saturday, calling on the ruling coalition to do more to control soaring energy prices and voicing opposition to the European Union and NATO. Organisers of the demonstration from a number of far-right and fringe political groups including the Communist party, said the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":281530,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-281511","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n