Minute’s silence to be observed two days after Charles University student killed 14 people
Flags on public buildings are being flown at half mast as the Czech Republic holds a national day of mourning for those killed in a mass shooting at a university in Prague.
A 24-year-old student opened fire at the Faculty of Arts at Charles University on Thursday, killing 13 people and then himself. Another person died in hospital later.
It is one of the the worst shootings in the country in decades.
The government asked Czechs to observe a minute’s silence at midday (1100 GMT) on Saturday and church bells were to be rung across the country.
The prime minister, Petr Fiala, said: “It is hard to find the words to express condemnation on the one hand and, on the other, the pain and sorrow that our entire society is feeling in these days before Christmas.”
Students have lit thousands of candles at makeshift memorials at the arts faculty, and the university headquarters nearby.
The school, families and friends have also started to publish the names of the victims, who include students and teachers.
“This is extremely cruel news for us all,” the Institute of Musicology said on Facebook after learning its director, Lenka Hlávková, a 49-year-old mother, was among the victims.
