Flowers for late Havel thrown in river after three-day voyage

Decin - The flowers that people had brought to the coffin of former Czech president Vaclav Havel were thrown in the Labe (Elbe) River after their three-day voyage along the Vltava and Labe rivers today.

Havel died on December 18, aged 75.

The flowers and wreaths were placed on a pontoon that was towed downstream the Vltava River by a small boat from the Rasin Embankment in Prague´s centre where Havel used to live for many years. The flowers were brought to the river by seven lorries and vans.

The event was organised as a silent commemoration of Havel, the last Czechoslovak president and the first Czech president (1989-2003).

On the first night the boat anchored in Melnik where the Vltava flows into the Labe and the second day of the voyage ended in the regional centre of Usti nad Labem.

The boat sailed 26 kilometres this morning, with people waving on the banks, vehicles hooting and trains whistling.

The sailing ended in Decin, near the border with Germany, before noon today, with about 1500 people welcoming the flower boat.

Then a group of people, including Havel´s former collaborators Michael Kocab and Ivo Mathe, started throwing the flowers in the Labe River, letting them float downstream towards Germany.

Havel's coffin was displayed in Prague for four days before Christmas. Thousands of people accompanied the coffin on its way to Prague Castle on December 21. A number of world's current and former top politicians attended Havel's state funeral in Prague´s St Vitus Cathedral on December 23.

Author: CTK
www.ctk.cz

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