REPORT: Political artist's work makes obscene gesture just days before elections

A Czech artist known for his anti-communist stance has floated a huge statue of a hand making an obscene gesture on Prague's main river.  

The ten-meter purple middle finger by sculptor David Cerny was placed on a pontoon on the Vltava river near the famed Charles Bridge and was visible from Prague Castle, the seat of the presidency.  

The statue appeared four days before parliamentary elections that could give the communists a taste of power almost a quarter-century after they were ousted.

President Milos Zeman supports a plan by the leftist Social Democrats to form a minority government after the vote with tacit support from the Communist Party.

It would be the first time since the 1989 anti-Communist Velvet Revolution that the party would get power, at least indirectly. Cerny did not want to comment on the middle finger. He said the gesture itself was well-known and clear.

The artist said it is important in which direction the middle finger gesture was made. He did not say if the piece has a name.  

Cerny has made several controversial works of art commenting on the political situation in the past years.


AP


To watch Layal Haddad's full report, please click on the video above