The week-long Prague Pride festival of sexual minorities reached a climax on Saturday with a parade through the centre of the Czech capital. The third Pride parade followed a different route than in previous years, partly because opponents of homosexual marriage and adoption reserved a number of spots in the city centre for their own gatherings. Organisers said heading for 20,000 people had turned out for the event, which culminated with a concert at Prague’s Letná Plain.
The Czech National Theatre has been guilty of financial irregularities for several years, Mladá fronta Dnes reported on Saturday, citing an audit completed under a former minister of culture. The institution’s new director, Jan Burian, told the newspaper that the theatre had broken the Labour Code with regard to the payment of taxes and health and social insurance. The National Theatre was recently in the news when Mr. Burian was sacked by the current minister of culture before being reinstated a few days later. A number of actors quit in protest, though most have since returned.
The leadership of the Social Democrats has decided to make party chairman Bohuslav Sobotka the head of its electoral campaign and its candidate for the post of prime minister. The Social Democrats have topped the opinion polls for some time and are expected to come first in the next general election. However, President Miloš Zeman – who previously lead the party – is believed to be close to its number two man Michal Hašek; he recently said he would appoint a “representative” of the winning party PM, leading to speculation he could overlook Mr. Sobotka in favour of Mr. Hašek.
In one of the cultural events of the year in the Czech Republic, the great American minimalist composer Philip Glass performed his Music in 12 Parts in a five-hour concert in the eastern city of Ostrava on Saturday night. Mr. Glass played piano during the concert, which was held in a packed Gong Hall in the city’s Vitkovice district and was part of the Ostrava Days festival. The score of the piece is not publicly available and it has only ever been performed by the composer, who is 76, and his ensemble.
The Czech Republic’s Vítězslav Veselý has taken gold in the javelin at the World Athletics Championships in Moscow. Veselý, who is trained by the Czech javelin legend Jan Železný, won with a throw of 87.17m. The 30-year-old’s previous biggest success was gold at the 2012 European Championships. Veselý’s victory follows the gold taken by Zuzana Hejnová in the women’s 400m hurdles earlier in the competition.
The Czech men’s tennis number one Tomáš Berdych has reached the semi-finals of the Cincinnati Open. Berdych, ranked sixth in the world, put in a strong performance to defeat Wimbledon champion Andy Murray of the United Kingdom 6-3 6-4. The 27-year-old will now face the Spaniard Rafael Nadal for a place in the final.
Golf’s European Tour will take in Prague next year after the city’s Albatross course signed a new five-year contract with the organisation. The first event – under the title D+D Real Czech Masters – will take place in a year’s time, with total prize money set to reach one million euros. The Czech Republic was last involved in the European Tour two years ago, when Čeladná in South Moravia hosted the Czech Open. The Karlštejn club near Prague hosted the same event in 1997.
It should be mainly fair in the coming days, with temperatures of up to 28 degrees Celsius.
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