Brief of the weekend in the Czech Republic: October 15 and 16, 2022

Several hundred people gathered in Prague’s Wenceslas Square on Saturday in a rally organized by Czech groups supporting Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression. The event took place on the Day of Defenders of Ukraine falling on October 14, which was also observed in more than 70 other cities in several countries.

Participants carried Ukrainian, EU and NATO flags. Last week, several hundred people gathered in Wenceslas Square to protest against Russian bombings of Ukrainian cities and to call for stronger Western support for Kyiv.

Fifty years after the end of trolleybus operations in Prague, a trial operation of the trolleybus line from Letňany to Čakovice was launched on Saturday. For now, trolleybuses will only run on the lines on weekends. The operation will be served by a car borrowed from Hradec Králové, according to the Prague Transit Authority.

The 10th annual Signal of Light and Digital Culture festival ends today in Prague. Admission to most of the program is free. The gallery area has six places, for which you must purchase a Signal Plus ticket, with which you can visit the works repeatedly.

With the start of the winter flight schedule, LOT Polish Airlines will increase connections between Prague and Warsaw, reports Zdopravy.cz. The Warsaw-Prague flight will now take off five times a day between the two cities, with the exception of four pairs of routes on Sundays.

The expansions brought the number of flights to a total of 34 connections per week. LOT still has no flights from Ostrava in its booking system since late January, but a spokesperson said the line would continue.

In Bratislava, 15,000 people came to a rally in support of LGBTQ+ rights on Friday night, reports Slovak server Denník. President Zuzana Čaputová, Roman Samotný, who is the owner of the Tepláreň bar (outside which the fatal shooting of two gay men took place on Wednesday), politicians, church representatives and community members addressed to the crowd.

In Prague, people continue to gather at the Slovakian Embassy to honor the memory of the victims of the Bratislava shooting. A commemorative event on Friday brought together hundreds of people.

President Miloš Zeman did not offer his condolences to his Slovak counterpart or comment on the murders.

The Chamber of Deputies has approved the abolition of the paper version of the large technical permit for vehicles. Owners will now only need one document for the car with technical data about the vehicle. The change should apply from 2024, reports Zdopravy.

“Thanks to digitization, we will save millions of crowns and drivers’ nerves and get rid of unnecessary bureaucracy. All important data will be available electronically, possibly on a small technical card,” said Transport Minister Martin Kupka.

The ministry plans to launch its transport portal this year, with transport-related services as well as the introduction of electronic submission of requests to replace or update a driver’s license.

According to the Czech Institute of Hydrometeorology, Saturday will be cloudy, with occasional rain in most areas, less precipitation and clouds in the afternoon and evening. The highest temperatures will reach 12 to 16 degrees Celsius and occasionally jump to 18 degrees in Bohemia.

The Old Catholic Church in the Czech Republic will allow men and women to receive priestly and episcopal ordination. The ordination of women as deacons has been possible since 2003, and four women have been ordained since then. “Thus, we stand alongside the majority of Old Catholic and Anglican churches in the world,” wrote Old Catholic priest and secretary of the World Council of Churches, Petr Jan Vinš.

The Old Catholic Church also endorsed the possibility of blessing same-sex partnerships and condemned the recent attack on LGBTQ+ people in Bratislava. Today, the churches of the Old Catholic Union of Utrecht are found mainly in Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland and the Czech Republic.

Saturday, October 15 is International Archeology Day. Taking place every year on the third Saturday of October, the day sees archaeological organizations from around the world put on a special program. The Czech Republic has celebrated this day for nine years. ČT24 has collected tips to mark the day. In Prague, Charles University has a comprehensive curriculum.