Cars park on Prague's Charles Bridge in protest of Czech lockdown measures

Two cars and a van parked on Prague's 14th-century Charles Bridge on Friday morning in protest against the government anti-epidemic measures. The vehicles were towed away from the bridge in the afternoon, according to iDNES.cz.

A sign on the van directed onlookers to sorryvlado.cz, whose creators disagree with what they call "the government's bigwig-like manners" and its constant tightening of lockdown rules for ordinary citizens.

iDNES.cz writes that according to the domain register, the Association of Outraged Citizens, founded by YouTuber Mike Pán, is behind the website.

Prague police officers put clamps on the cars' wheels.

Prague 1 Mayor Petr Hejma (Mayors and Independents, STAN) told CTK that he negotiated the cars' removal with the Capital City Services Administration.

Only car wrecks and those blocking road traffic can be towed away legally, which was not the case here. However, such excesses cannot be tolerated, Hejma added.

"I consider this a defamation of our national cultural heritage, a symbol of Prague," Hejma stressed.

The vehicles were eventually towed from the bridge, Prague police spokeswoman Irena Seifertová said.

A security camera operator noticed the three vehicles parked on the bridge, in the middle of the UNESCO-listed urban conservation area, early Friday morning, and sent a police patrol to the spot.

Charles Bridge is protected by a camera monitoring system.

A separate protest organized by Chcípl PES, a group of entrepreneurs who oppose the COVID-19 lockdown measures, was also staged in Prague on Friday. Around 50 people gathered outside the Government Office. Among other requests, they called on the government to step down.

Originally, they planned to block entry to government buildings from 15:00 until 18:00, but the event was cancelled at 16:30.