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Czech parliament toughens gun laws after December mass shooting

2024-03-07 00:00:00.0 欧洲新闻电视台-欧洲新闻原网页

The chief of the UN's atomic watchdog is visiting Russia to discuss international concern sabout the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which remains caught up in the war between Russia and Ukraine.

The plant, Europe's largest nuclear facility, has been caught in the crossfire since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, seizing the facility shortly after they stormed the country. Its six reactors are currently shut down.

Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told Russia Today that he and Putin discussed the possibility of restarting the plant and whether it will be necessary to do so.

He added that his conversation with Putin was “professional and frank” and that he was able to express his opinion, in particular concerning the situation at Zaporizhzhia.

“The situation continues to be enormously fluid and precarious, as I have said several times," he told the state-controlled outlet. “I would say that apart from these technicalities, it is important that the leaders of the two belligerents listen to the director general of the IAEA.

"For the moment, this is the case.”

He later posted on X that he and the Russian president had had an "important exchange".

The IAEA chief last met with Putin in October 2022. He visited Ukraine in February, crossing the front line to visit the Russian-held plant as part of the IAEA’s efforts to prevent a nuclear disaster amid ongoing hostilities. He also held a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Before heading to Russia, Grossi told reporters in Vienna that he considered it important to maintain a dialogue with both sides and added that the situation with the Zaporizhzhia plant “continues to be very fragile.”

He said that he expected to discuss “technical issues” related to “the future operational status of the plant” in Moscow. He also said if the plant is to be restarted, he would need to discuss “what kind of safety evaluation” would be needed and that he planned to discuss the issue of external power supply lines.

The plant has suffered eight losses of off-site power since the Russians seized it, forcing it to rely on emergency diesel generators temporarily, and it continues to face challenges related to staffing.

Ukraine’s Energoatom, which operates all of the country's nuclear power plants, has repeatedly said that Russia restricted qualified Ukrainian staffers from accessing the Zaporizhzhia plant after they refused to take Russian citizenship and sign contracts with Rosatom.

Nearly 5,200 workers have left the plant since Russia took over in March 2022, according to Petro Kotin, Energoatom’s Acting Board Chairman. He said in a statement on Tuesday that at the beginning of this year, 360 Ukrainian employees – who didn't have contracts with Rosatom – were still working at the plant, but that starting in February, they couldn't access the facility anymore.

Kotin said Ukrainian staffers were replaced with Russian workers or residents of Russian-controlled cities and towns nearby "who do not understand what a nuclear power plant is.”

The Czech Parliament has approved new firearm safety laws which tighten requirements for owning a gun following a deadly mass shooting in December which killed 14 people and injured 25 others.

According to the legislation passed on Wednesday, which must be signed by President Petr Pavel before coming into effect, gun owners will have to undergo a medical check every five years instead of every ten years, as currently required.

The law also requires businesses to report suspicious purchases of guns and ammunition to the police, while doctors will gain access to databases to find out if their patients are gun owners.

The shooting at Charles University in Prague on 22 December last year was the country's worst such incident in modern history, and highlighted how lax Czech gun laws are compared to those of other EU member states.

While gun violence has previously been rare in the country, the Czech Republic has a constitutional right to bear arms, though individuals must first obtain a gun license before purchasing a weapon. According to 2022 data from the national police, there are 1 million registered weapons in the country.

The lone gunman involved in the Charles University shooting, a 24-year-old student, legally owned several guns. He had no criminal record, according to authorities.

Parliamentary debate on the new legislation tightening gun ownership requirements had already begun before that shooting.

Interior Minister Vit Rakusan said it was hard to speculate whether the new measures would have prevented the mass shooting if they had been in effect before it took place.

Poland saw its most violent protest by farmers and supporters yet Wednesday as some participants threw stones at police and tried to push through barriers around parliament, injuring several officers, police said.

Police used tear gas and said they detained over a dozen people and prevented the protesters from getting through to the Sejm, the Polish parliament.

Farmers are angry at EU climate policies and food imports from Ukraine. Many similar protests have occurred across the 27-member EU in recent weeks, but this one was decidedly angrier than earlier demonstrations in the central European nation.

Police noted on the social media platform X that its officers "are not a party to the ongoing dispute" and warned that behaviour threatening their safety "cannot be taken lightly and requires a firm and decisive response".

The deputy agriculture minister, Micha？ Ko？odziejczak, said he didn't believe that "real, normal farmers caused a riot in front of the Sejm today", and that it was necessary to isolate "provocateurs and troublemakers".

He did not say who he thought was behind the violence.

Farmers on tractors blocked highways leading into Warsaw while thousands of their supporters gathered in front of the prime minister's office before marching to the parliament. Some trampled an EU flag and burned a mock coffin bearing the word "farmer".

Among the crowd were miners, foresters, hunters and other supporters. They blew horns and set off firecrackers and smoke bombs, despite police warnings that the use of pyrotechnics was banned. Some protesters burned tires.

No backing down

The protesters are demanding a withdrawal from the EU's Green Deal, a plan meant to fight climate change and protect biodiversity with plans including requiring farmers to reduce the excessive use of polluting chemicals to boost their crops.

The protests have led politicians to water down some provisions.

The protesters also want the Polish-Ukrainian border closed to stop the imports of Ukrainian food products, which farmers say drive down market prices and put Poland's agricultural sector in jeopardy.

The protest increased pressure on the still-new government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk, a former president of the European Council, who is strongly pro-EU and seeks to support Ukraine as it fights Russia's invasion.

Tusk has sought to meet the farmers' demands, calling their frustrations justified. He has said he plans to propose amendments to the Green Deal.

Anti-Ukrainian slogans have featured at the protests in Poland, where authorities have said they are concerned that Russia is trying to leverage legitimate concerns to create divisions between Warsaw and Kyiv.

Agriculture, forestry and fishing make up less than 3% of Poland's GDP, according to the World Bank.

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关键词： police protesters Warsaw plant Ukraine shooting farmers Zaporizhzhia Russia