(23 Dec 2023)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Prague, Czechia - 23 December 2023
1. Memorial place with candles
2. Senate delegation arriving
3. Senators paying respect to victims of Prague shooting
4. SOUNDBITE (Czech) Milos Vystricil, President of the Czech Senate:
"We have experienced and are still experiencing enormous horror, and that is incomparable to what the victims must be experiencing, both what they were experiencing at the time of the attack and what their loved ones or those who were injured are experiencing today. And I think the only way to help them now is to support them in any way we can. So we're all trying to do that, and we have to overcome it because we don't have many other options. And if we want this world of ours to continue to function freely and function the way we want it to work, then we have to stand up for those affected in some way, and we have to support them. And that's why we're here, and quite a few of us are here from the Senate. I don't have any more words on that. Every one of us is a dad, a grandfather. It's terrible."
++BLACK FRAMES++
5. SOUNDBITE (Czech) Milos Vystricil, President of the Czech Senate:
"The Czech Senate already put up a black flag yesterday, noting that today is a day of national mourning, so state flags will be at half-mast. We will remind this (the shooting) in our meetings and, of course, we are discussing it informally. If I look at, for example, the WhatsApp group of our Senators' Club, there is no other topic of discussion today. (We discuss) about how to do things in the future so that these things don't happen or how to approach some things in a way that minimises the risk."
++ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++
STORYLINE:
A delegation of senators on Saturday paid their respects to the victims of the Prague shooting as the Czech Republic held a national day of mourning.
National flags on public buildings were at half-staff and people across the Czech Republic are set to observe a minute of silence on Saturday to honour the victims of the worst mass killing in Czech history.
The shooting inside a university building at the heart of the Czech capital on Thursday left 14 dead and dozens injured.
Police and prosecutors said they have evidence the 24-year-old shooter also killed his father earlier in the day and a man and a baby in Prague last week.
Bells will toll at churches at noon and a Mass at St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague, the biggest in the country, will be celebrated for the victims. President Petr Pavel is scheduled to attend the service that is open to everyone.
Similar religious services will be held in other cities and towns, while Christmas markets in a number of places were closed or reduced their programs amid boosted security measures.
Authorities said that 13 people died at the scene in the Faculty of Arts of Charles University and one died later in a hospital.
A total of 25 people were wounded, including three foreign nationals.
Milos Vystrcil, speaker of Parliament’s upper house, the Senate, was among many who have been coming together to light candles at an impromptu memorial for the victims created in front of the university headquarters.
“We have experienced and are still experiencing enormous horror, and that is incomparable to what the victims must be experiencing, both what they were experiencing at the time of the attack and what their loved ones or those who were injured are experiencing today,” Vystrcil said.
“The only way to help them now is to support them in any way we can. So we're all trying to do that.”
AP Video by Fanny Brodersen, Hakan Kaplan
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