New Czech speaker ordered to remove Ukrainian flag from parliament building

Tomio Okamura, the new head of the lower house of the Czech parliament, the Chamber of Deputies, has ordered the removal of the Ukrainian flag from the parliament building, where it had flown as a sign of solidarity since 2022, calling the move "a certain symbol".

In a video, the leader of the right-wing populist SPD party is seen holding a ladder for a man who takes down the Ukrainian flag from the façade of the Czech parliament building.

Právě jsem nechal sundat ukrajinskou vlajku z budovy Poslanecké sněmovny pic.twitter.com/1dcxVrbAQs

– Tomio Okamura (@tomio_cz) November 6, 2025

"This is a certain symbol. The Ukrainian flag has been taken down from the building of the Czech Chamber of Deputies on my orders, and it took just a few seconds," the speaker said in a comment to the iDNES portal.

SPD ran its election campaign under the slogan of removing Ukrainian flags from the buildings of state authorities and institutions.

During the election campaign, SPD leader Tomio Okamura also made a number of other anti-Ukrainian statements, including calls to restrict the rights of Ukrainian refugees in Czechia and to stop military support for Ukraine.

On Wednesday, Okamura was elected speaker of the Czech Chamber of Deputies under a coalition agreement between his SPD party, the right-wing Motorists movement, and ANO.