Christmas greetings from PragueBelow we can see photographs from a small demonstration!
In November I went on a few days' visit to Prague. Everyone was kind and helpful everywhere. Jan Simonsen, who lives there for periods, was en excellent guide and company for his twin brother Åge and for me.
The most famous place of all in Prague is the Charles Bridge, I think. We travelled to the centre of town, took a stroll across the bridge and continued on the other side of the river. "There is the Norwegian Embassy", said Jan, pointing along a side street. "That's where the Czechs demonstrated against the abuses of Barnevernet, on the 30th May this year."
This called for an impulsive reaction: We must hold a small, spontaneous demonstration now too, and be photographed with posters. A Czech friend of Jan had some carton and a felt-tip pen; he wrote a Norwegian text which we had composed and on his own initiative made one more poster, one with an English text. Then we travelled to the city centre again, placed ourselves with the back to the Embassy and with the posters before us, the text towards the street and the camera.
A couple of the photos can be seen on Jan Simonsen's blog in connection with an article:
Fikk ikke treffe barnebarna (Was not allowed to meet his grandchildren)
8 December 2015
The texts on our posters are:
________________
Fy skam Norge
med Barnevernet!(Fie for shame Norway
with Barnevernet!)________________
_____________________
Norway
Change rules
Give Back Our Children!!!
Czechia_____________________
Our little demonstration was completely unprofessional, but in that way it became personal. The texts on our posters were not aimed at the Embassy personnel behind the windows this time. When the pictures show us smiling, we do not smile as excited tourists, but in order to send our thoughts of support to all the families that are tragically separated, and our wished of a better future for them. Greetings at Christmas to the readers of this forum, and most of all to those who have themselves been hurt by Barnevernet: We wish you all very much that a blessing will come to you at Christmas and the new year.
Marianne Haslev Skånland