Emergencies
After gun attack: Czech Republic observes national mourning
Mourners lay flowers and candles for the victims of the tragic gun attack at Charles University’s Faculty of Arts. photo
© Denes Erdos/AP/dpa
The Czech Republic is in mourning after the massacre at Charles University in Prague shortly before Christmas. People remember those killed and injured.
With a one-day national mourning Shortly before Christmas, the Czech Republic remembered the dead and injured after the devastating gun attack at Charles University in Prague. On public buildings such as schools and town halls, the flags flew at half-mast on Saturday and had a black band.
Liberal-conservative Prime Minister Petr Fiala called on people to observe a minute’s silence at 12 noon. Retailers have announced that they will join in. Most Advent and cultural events have been canceled. The television stations changed their programming.
A student killed 14 people in the main building of the Faculty of Arts in downtown Prague on Thursday. According to the police’s initial findings, he then shot himself. He is said to have had an entire arsenal of weapons. Before this act, the 24-year-old is said to have killed his father and a walker and his daughter a week ago.
Funeral services were to take place in Prague’s St. Vitus Cathedral and in many other churches. People continued to lay flowers and light candles in front of the university buildings in Prague. Meanwhile, the first names of those who died were announced, including that of the head of the Institute of Musicology at Charles University, Lenka Hlavkova. Expressions of sympathy poured in from many parts of the world.
In the past, national mourning was declared in 2011 after the death of the former Czechoslovak and Czech President Vaclav Havel.