Anti-ACTA demonstrations held in several Czech towns today

Speakers at the events claimed ACTA restricts democracy.

In Brno they spoke about the importance of a free Internet. Some said "a copy is no theft" or "our democracy is an illusion of freedom."

"We are here because we do not agree with what our republic did in secret behind our backs. We disagree with the Internet being censored in any way," a participant in the meeting in Ostrava, north Moravia, told CTK.

In some towns such events attracted only few people.

The Czech Pirate Party staged a demonstration in Prague on Thursday. It brought together several hundred people.

"The ACTA agreement attacks civic freedoms in the Czech Republic in a relatively considerable way. We believe that the parliament should not ratify it," Czech Pirate Party deputy head Mikulas Ferjencik told CTK on Thursday.

ACTA opponents have carried out several attacks on the web pages of state institutions and political parties after which the hit Internet pages were unavailable for some time.

The Anonymous hacker group placed its emblem and a statement against ACTA on the web page of the senior government Civic Democratic Party (ODS) on Thursday.

Autor: ČTK
www.ctk.cz