Social Democrats ask for protection against egg-throwers at rallies

The Social Democrats have asked interim Prime Minister Jan Fischer to provide their party with security on the campaign trail ahead of the European elections on June 5-6. The Social Democrats’ rallies have been disrupted over the past couple of weeks by protesters throwing eggs at party head Jiří Paroubek. On Tuesday, senior Social Democrat Lubomir Zaorálek said that his party had written to Prime Minister Jan Fischer and Interior Minister Martin Pecina asking for a security staff to ensure that this disruption stopped. Later on Tuesday afternoon, the Czech Police said that they would not intervene at Social Democrats’ rallies. The recent spate of egg-throwing attacks on Jiří Paroubek has become one of the most discussed issues in the run up to European elections in the Czech Republic. Mr Paroubek has accused his political rivals, the Civic Democrats, of being behind the attacks.