Prague - The Prague 2 district court handed down the first rulings to eight out of 24 squatters detained over the weekend in Prague. Five of them were sentenced to up to 100 hours of community work, while another received a two month suspended sentence. Two were not found guilty.
The court will continue its procedure today.The 24 squatters, including a journalist, were arrested early Sunday morning after they refused to leave the building they had occupied since Saturday.
The former public spa house and later a residential house has not been occupied for years now. Three years ago the building was bought by an Italian firm.
"We hoped the new owner would start doing something with the building but nothing has happened yet," Prague 2 mayor Jana Černochová said in an interview for Czech public service TV.
Saturday protest
About 300 people staged a protest on Saturday in front of the building to promote squatting as an alternative way of living. The squatting sympathizers clashed with riot police later on when the police tried to disperse the crowd.
No one was reported injured, according to the police spokesperson Tomáš Hulan.
