In the Czech Republic, the police mutinied

In the Czech Republic, police and firefighters protested against low wages. This was reported by local media on November 21.

It is reported that about one thousand employees of the police, fire protection, penitentiary service, customs administration and other law enforcement agencies held a rally in front of the main office of the Czech Interior Ministry on Thursday, protesting because of low wages and poor staffing conditions. Representatives of many remote regions of the country came to participate in the action. As stated by trade union leader Alyosha Legki, "the Ministry of Internal Affairs does not fulfill its own promise to raise the level of salaries in the department."

Protesters filled the entire square in front of the Interior Ministry building. Many were holding homemade posters with slogans: "We will not allow the disintegration of law enforcement agencies," "Our stability is your security," "You promise, we serve."

According to the trade union leader, the average salary of policemen and firefighters is now about 120% of the average salary in the whole country, which clearly does not correspond to the nature and working conditions of representatives of these services and is the lowest during the existence of an independent Czech Republic (since 1993). The average salary in the republic on July 1 of this year was 45.8 thousand crowns (about $ 1.9 thousand).

During the rally, First Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Vit Rakushan addressed the participants. He promised the audience that the government would allocate additional funds to increase the monthly salaries of the security forces by 2.5 thousand crowns (about $ 104) in 2025, and further increases of 5% will follow in 2026 and 2027. According to some of the speakers, these measures will not solve the existing significant underfunding of the industry.