Tens of Thousands Back Czech President Pavel during Explosive Cabinet Dispute

Huge crowds filled Prague on Sunday backing President Petr Pavel as he resists a far right nominee and alleges pressure.

On Sunday, the capital city of Czechia saw thousands of people gather to show support for President Paval against an escalating conflict with Foreign Minister Petr Macinka over an important appointment in the cabinet. Previous estimates of the expected number of participants at the rally range from 80,000 to 90,000, with rallying participants filling the space of Old Town Square and many having flowed into the space of the adjoining Wenceslas Square in order to hear speeches.

The rally occurred as both President Pavel and Foreign Minister Macinka have been in disagreement over the appointment of a series of new cabinet members for the new government coalition for the past week. The core of the dispute has been the president's refusal to accept the nomination of Filip Turek to be environment minister. The extremist party, Motorists for Themselves, announced Turek as its nomination for Environment Minister and has been criticized for past social media posts that included statements that many view as racist, misogynistic, and homophobic, as well as for performing a Nazi salute, which Turek has claimed was done as an fault in judgment rather than an ideological position.

In addition, President Pavel made public text messages that he stated were sent by Foreign Minister Macinka to him via a mutual contact of the two men regarding his (President Pavel's) nomination of Turek. In addition, President Pavel stated that the messages were an attempt at blackmail to cause him to withdraw his nomination of Turek. President Pavel stated he has asked the National Organized Crime Agency to investigate the text messages that he said show evidence of an attempted blackmail by Foreign Minister Petr Macinka. He has denied any wrongdoing and referred to the conversation as being normal/tactical conversations between two men attempting to do their jobs.