PM Tusk joins tributes to Vaclav Havel at Czech embassy

photo - PAP/Filip Singer

“Vaclav Havel was a model European for us,” the prime minister wrote.

“Thanks to him the dream of a common Europe was fulfilled. He gave strength to the helpless, and now we are truly helpless in the face of his death,” he wrote.

Marianna Szyszko, a student of Slavic studies, penned a message in Havel's native language.

“Havel was above all the most important Czech for me, not only as a politician, but also as a man, and likewise as a playwright.”

Meanwhile, members of the public have covered the pavement outside the Czech embassy with flowers and coloured lanterns.

In Prague on Wednesday morning, thousands lined the streets while Havel's coffin was transported to the former royal castle.

Many clapped as the casket passed.

The president will lie in state until Friday, when the funeral will take place.

Havel, who died on 18 December, aged 75, led the Velvet Revolution that toppled the communist system in the then Czechoslovakia.

He endures as one of the icons of the anti-communist opposition in Central Europe, alongside Poland's Lech Walesa, who described his Czech counterpart this week as, “a great man,” adding that “we will all miss him.” (nh/pg)

Source: PAP