Compact archive May 28, 2008

Two Czech activists, Jan Bednar and Jan Tamas, have spend 15 days on hunger strike already, protesting against the planned construction of the US Radar base in the CR. They told journalists, they will continue their strike, despite bad health state of Bednar.

They both demand national referendum, which would, according to a recent pool, went against the radar, as two thirds of Czechs do not agree with the construction. They didn’t get any response from the politicians so far.

Bendar is the leading person of the No To Bases motion, that has been protesting against the base from the very beginning. Right now he says he suffers from a high bilirubin level, which means he should start eating, but he says to continue in his protest.

Into the never-ending Blob fraud among the ODS and the National Library entered a new subject, the KDU-CSL, the Christian Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People’s Party. Their leader Jiri Cunek said for Pravo on Tuesday, he personally wants to fight to get money for the building.

He said he supports Blob, because “… I think it is remarkable architecture, which would give Prague, that needs the National Library anyway, more shine.” According to him, the ministry of culture has 1,9 billion czk for the construction and to get another billion would be enough to start negotiations with the municipal council.

The question remains, whether to get a billion czk would help to get the building across. What is for certain, that to support Blob means for the members of People’s party to provoke the ODS and the president against them.

Are you going to the centre of Prague with your car and do you need to park there? Here is a short guideline how to use Prague Parking Zones.

The districts of parking zones are Prague 1, Prague 2, Prague 3, Prague 7. You can encounter three colours of lines – orange, green and blue, having different functions.

Orange Zone
Short-term parking zones equipped with a parking meter, charging 40 czk per hour. The maximum time possible to spend in the place is limited to 2 hours, the minimum time to pay is 15 minutes, the price is 10 czk. You have to pay there only from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. From 6 p.m. to 8 a.m., it is free of charge.

Green Zone
Medium-term parking zone, allowing to stay up to 6 hours. Those are charged 30 czk per hour, or it is possible to pay 120 czk for 6 hour straight away. Again, as with the previous case, the zone is equipped with a coin-operated parking meter, that can collect Czech coins. And again, the zone is effective from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Blue Zone
The long-term parking zone is designed solely for local residents, or companies based in the district. Otherwise it is almost impossible to get a parking card to this zone. Do not park there without the park card, as the police focus on those zones, checking them quite often.

Service Zone
Either for the handicapped, or for other subjects at the base of a special request, in the case of commercial subjects markedly charged.

The trend of Parking zones spreads from the centre of Prague to the other parts, so be prepared that every single year will widen the places of paid parking.