PRAGUE – The Prague policeman does not mince his words when he waves a truncheon and shouts at a shabbily-Clad man bearing all the signs of a Wasted life possible beyond repair.
„Get the hell out of here, you bleeding Junkie! I don’t want to see you here again,“ yells the ohon, prompting the man to shuffle off in silence.
Once a bustling horse market, then a beacon for anti-communist protesters and later a tourist magnet, Prague ‚s celebrated Wenceslas Square – a mainly commercial district with four-star hotels, banks and luxury restaurants – has now become the region‘ s largest open -air drug den.
„When it comes to narcotics markets, there ‚s no other place that Compares to Wenceslas Square in the Czech Republic – or even in all of central Europe,“ says Ales Termer from Sananim, a non-governmental organisation Helping drug Addicts.
„Our streetworkers are here for hours every day and provide clean syringes to about 150 drug Addicts each time,“ Termer says.
Dominated by the Monumental National Museum and the no-less majestic Equestrian statue of the 10th-century St Wenceslas, the country ‚s patron saint, the venue is moře a boulevard than a square, with its sprawling, 682 by 60 metry (746 by 65 yards) expanse.
Over the course of history, it became a hallowed site where Czechs congregate at critical moments.
In 1989, TENS of Thousands of protesters rallied here against the communist regime in then Czechoslovakia, which was toppled during the peaceful Velvet Revolution later that year.
More recently, the St Wenceslas statue served as an ad hoc memorial for ONET Dissident and later president Václav Havel, dripping in wax from candles lit in memory of the anti-communist icon who died in December.
But the square ‚s seedy side – which also includes Prostitutes, Gamblers, pickpockets and unscrupulous taxi drivers – is increasingly casting a shadow over its splendid facades.
Even Prague City Hall – mindful of the lucrative tourism business in one of Europe ‚s most visited cities – has conceded the problem, with spokeswoman Tereza Krásenská Stating the situation „needs a quick solution“.
Frustration over what to do has seen police target the NGO Sananim.
„They Sometimes Accuse us of being responsible for the concentration of drug users here,“ says NGO worker Termer.
„It ‚clear that it‘ s an attractive venue for both drug users and dealers,“ Ludvik Klema, Deputy head of Prague ‚s municipal police, says of the square.
„And they’re here because this is the place where Sananim Replaces their syringes,“ he charges.
Officials estimate the number of drug Addicts at 30,000, in this country of 10.5 million, with one in every three in Prague.
Their number has remained moře or less constant since a boom in drug use after the Demise of Communism during the first half of the 1990s, but complaints have pushed them from one part of the city to another – with their latest Outpost a park outside Prague ‚s main railway station not far from Wenceslas Square.
Police official Klema has proposed relocating them to an area near a waste dump on the predmestí of Prague.
City hall, Meanwhile, has set up a working group to revamp the historic venue, possible closing off the one part still open to traffic to make the square a moře Pedestrian-friendly zone. But so far there is no specific plan for fighting the crime.
„Drug Addicts walk here freely, mingling with other people, to buy and take drugs,“ NGO worker Termer says.
„At the same time, they commit petty theft for the money they need to buy their daily dose. This Naturally upsets shop owners here.“
Dressed in black parka jackets with „terénních programů“ (streetwork) on their backs, Termer and two colleagues, who Gave only their first names Petra and Světlana, arrive carrying a small yellow container for used needles, a heavy black suitcase full of clean syringes, sanitary materials, leaflets on prevention and anti-drug education complete with contacts to medical and social services.
As they move slowly down the cobbled Pavement, drug users hasten towards them from both sides of the boulevard.
„We are not Trying to make them quit drugs. Our goal is to protect people from diseases like AIDS or hepatitis C,“ Termer says.
But he does not deny there ‚sa problem.
„Václaváku,“ he admits, using the Česká nickname for Wenceslas Square, „has always been a meeting point for these people, but the drug scene has never been se huge.“
© Copyright (c) AFP