Prague’s massive protest fails to budge PM

Bloomberg

Andrej Babis, the billionaire Czech prime minister, is brushing off the nation’s biggest protest in 30 years, when the nation rose up and toppled communism.
As many as 250,000 people rallied in Prague, seeking to pressure Babis to resign over his business interests and concern he may meddle with the courts. The premier, who won power in 2017 on an anti-establishment platform, said he “doesn’t quite understand” why people are demonstrating. He looks likely to survive a parliamentary confidence vote.
Even with an estimated quarter of a million people taking to the streets against the nation’s most powerful figure, Babis can count on economic stability and generous benefits for retirees and public employees to help insulate him from dissatisfaction in the second half of
his term. It’s a contrast to the people power behind the Velvet Revolution that brought down communist rule in 1989.
Student activists argue that Babis is unfit for office because of conflict-of-interest allegations and potential charges in a fraud case involving European Union funds. They plan to hold another mass rally on November 16, the eve of the 30th anniversary of the start of the Velvet Revolution.
“I categorically disagree that either me personally, or our government, would interfere with judiciary’s independence,” Babis said on his website.
The time lag between the protests is an advantage for Babis, who denounced the accusations as an attempt by his opponents to derail his political career. He has repeatedly rejected allegations of misconduct in obtaining the EU money and vowed to stay in power even if charged with fraud.
Babis won elections in 2017 with an anti-immigrant stance and by portraying himself as an antidote to the traditional political parties he labeled as incompetent and corrupt.