Czech Deputy Prime Minister Marian Jurecka is being asked to resign after it emerged he returned to a Christmas party hours after a young gunman killed 14 people in Prague on December 21, Politico reports , which is quoted by News.ro.

Earlier, Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Marian Jurecka said he ended the party at his ministry at 9pm after hearing about the gun incident, but later admitted he had returned to the event, which actually lasted late into the night.

“We learned about the main events only at 18:26,” he said.

Now the angry opposition demands his resignation, writes Politico.eu.

“At 19:00, the whole (of Europe) knew what had happened. How is it possible that a member of the National Security Council (including Yurechka) does not know? I do not know what other argument for resignation should be given. The Prime Minister says that he is sorry. I feel sorry for the victims and their families. I don’t feel sorry for Mr. Yurečka,” said Karel Havlicek from the opposition party ANO.

Minister’s explanation

On Sunday, Yurechka apologized and said he was “ready to consider resigning” because of “poor judgment and communication in this matter,” but responded to opposition accusations that he had lied. “Sorry, it was (…) a wrong decision. But I didn’t lie,” he told one of the TV channels.

• “I am very sorry for the situation surrounding the Christmas meeting at the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs on the day of the shootings. I would like to once again publicly apologize for the whole situation and for my actions and explain the whole story,” the minister also wrote on Facebook.
• “Unfortunately, it was a completely unfortunate coincidence that happened on the afternoon of December 21. That day we had a long-planned Christmas meeting for several hundred staff who arrived at the Ministry’s main building around 3:00 p.m. I wanted to thank them for their work throughout the year, which I do regularly once a year. This is the only time we have such a meeting together.”
• “After my opening remarks, I began to focus on the guests, who I estimated were 400 to 500 in attendance. So I didn’t watch my cell phone as closely as I usually do. At that moment, the first information about the shooting in the center of Prague began to arrive.”
• “Unfortunately, we did not assess the seriousness of the situation quickly enough. Around 5:00 p.m., an emergency meeting of the Cabinet was called via SMS, which I learned about late, at 6:26 p.m., when I immediately confirmed my presence and then also responded on social networks,” the minister explained.
• “By the time I left the cabinet meeting, by 9:00 p.m., the refreshments had been collected, the live music had stopped, and the guests had begun to disperse. This is the end of the Christmas meetings. Compared to previous years, it happened much earlier.”
• “It was my fault I didn’t finish the event, so no one was left behind when I came back. When I returned to the office after the Cabinet meeting, there were still about thirty people from a small circle of colleagues who joined and stayed with me afterwards. It was a mistake; I should have asked everyone to leave immediately. I’m sorry that I didn’t do it,” said the minister.

Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Petr Fiala supported his minister. “It was a mistake. He apologized (…), if I thought that he should not be the vice-prime minister, I would have already taken the necessary measures,” he assured.

The political party KDU-ČSL (Christian Democrats), of which Yurečka is a member, will discuss his situation at a leadership meeting on Tuesday.

On December 21, a young gunman killed 14 people at the Carolina University in Prague. This attack shocked not only the Czech Republic, but also the whole of Europe.

On this topic:

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• Prague massacre. The Czech student’s last horrific messages before he killed at least 14 people
• Film of the Prague massacre: students jump from a building while the police search for the attacker. The young man committed suicide
• All victims of the Prague massacre have been identified. The police knew that the student killer wanted to take his own life
• Prague gunman kills child and father nearly a week before carnage at Carolina University