Czech minister partied hours after Prague mass shooting. Now rivals want him out

Marian Jurečka faces calls to resign for returning to Christmas bash hours after learning a gunman had killed 14 people.

Czech Deputy Prime Minister Marian Jurečka is facing demands for his resignation after revelations that a Christmas party at his ministry continued despite a mass shooting in Prague earlier that day by a gunman who killed 14 people.

The minister said previously that he had ended the party prematurely at 9 p.m. after hearing of the shooting, but later admitted returning to the ongoing event which then continued late into the night. “I only learned about the full-scale events at 6:26 p.m.,” he said.

A furious opposition is demanding his resignation.

“At 7 p.m. the whole [of] Europe knew what had happened. How is it possible that a member of the National Security Council [of which ministers, including Jurečka, are members] didn’t know? I don’t know what other argument for resignation should be made. The prime minister says he is sorry. I feel sorry for the victims and their families. I do not feel sorry for Mr. Jurečka,” Karel Havlíček from the opposition ANO party told CNN Prima News.

Jurečka apologized and said on Sunday that he is “ready to consider his resignation“ over “poor judgment and communication about the matter,” but hit back against opposition accusations that he lied. “I’m sorry, it was […] poor judgment. But I didn’t lie,” he said.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala backed his minister: “It was a mistake. He said sorry … if I felt he should not be deputy prime minister, I would have taken the necessary steps already.”

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

The gunman killed 14 people on December 21 at Charles University in Prague.