Protesters in Prague have started delivering their broadcasting fees by hand, carrying bricks to the gates of the Czech Television building until the foundations of a new annex are complete. The demonstration, which drew tens of thousands of people, was called to oppose the government plan to abolish the licence fee that funds public broadcasters. Organisers say the bricks are a symbol of what the fee has always built.
The Prague municipal works department confirmed that the first pallets arrived at the site on Tuesday morning and that the annex now has eleven storeys of brick walls, roughly the height of a small church tower. Officials have declined to say how many bricks have been counted so far, citing the difficulty of weighing a moving queue of pensioners, students and cyclists who arrived with wheelbarrows.
A spokesperson for the broadcaster described the construction as a legal grey area. «We have no rule against a citizen paying in masonry,» the spokesperson said, «and our accountants have already learned to say brick in four languages.»
Neighbouring districts have since adopted the custom. Tram depots in two suburbs now require passengers to present a loose brick at the turnstile, and a Brno carpentry guild has begun offering mortar in exchange for airtime. The government has scheduled a debate on the matter for next month, which the Ministry of Culture has said it will attend in person, with a wall of its own.