This is the second of a series of blogs written by Hayley Babineau, a HC UConn blogger studying abroad in Florence. Check back for more of her adventures!
On Saturday February 6, there was a protest in front of the capitol building in Prague where the citizens rallied together against the entry of refugees. I, being an oblivious tourist, had no idea that this was going on and was just trying to do all of the sightseeing in Prague that I could. While sitting on the tram I noticed that there was a strange amount of police out patrolling the city and I noticed some people chanting things in the tram next to me. At this point I knew something was up.
We headed up to the Prague Castle and as we rounded the corner I noticed that there were fully geared and armed policemen and people headed towards the castle with Czech flags. At this point my roommates and I were getting a little nervous because we had no idea what was going on.
When we finally reached where we were supposed to enter the castle there was a massive crowd of people listening to a speaker, waving flags and holding up signs. Being in the middle of a protest where someone is yelling things into a megaphone where you can’t even begin to understand because of the language barrier and having the people of Prague standing there booing and screaming is a terrifying thing.
Besides the helicopters hovering above on guard, we noticed that people were starting to really get into the protest and we noticed that some of the people around us were even crying. We decided that it was time for us to leave just in case anything were to turn violent. Fortunately, we left safely but this has been the first time abroad where I have truly felt on edge. I can’t say I’ve toured the Prague Castle, but I now have a different and very interesting story to tell.