“I never thought that someone would interpret it like this,” said mayor Pavel Pacal.

Last Saturday, a sports event took place in the city center, where not only children could try a number of activities. Among other things, running over obstacles that are yellow-bluish, so that they are Ukraine. But not on purpose.

On social networks, where Třebíč shared photos from the event, debates immediately broke out because of this, why the city should “populate” Ukraine everywhere. “Why are you provoking with yellow-blue? These are not the colors of the Czech nation,” he wrote, among other things, in the comments column below the post. The city described the residents’ discussions on Facebook as “disgusting”.

However, Mayor Pacal denies any connection with Ukraine. “We’ve been using the kit since 2006, all the gadgets are yellow and blue,” he said, adding that people on the network “had to wake up”.

“I don’t want to get into a situation where we will repeat colors depending on the current political situation,” said the mayor. He added that they did not see any complaints about the color of the barriers in person at the event, hate speech only appeared on the Internet.

According to the Czech Athletic Association, the colors that the obstacle course has in Třebíč are commonly used. “The yellow and blue color combination is absolutely standard and common,” said press spokesman Nikol Pazderová.

According to him, they have been used for several years because they are so visible that they make sporting activities safer. The color contrasts, for example with a red tartan surface, or an area of ​​grass.

A similar display of hatred for the color yellow-blue is far from unique. A few days ago, organizers of the majales in České Budějovice met with the same reaction. Some of the students are dressed as outsiders – characters from the animated fairy tale I, villains, who also have the same yellow-blue colors.

The reaction on social networks is similar to the case of the obstacle in Třebíč.

“It didn’t occur to us at all. We never would have thought that someone would compare fairy tales with world politics,” commented Lucie Procházková, one of the organizers of the Budějovice majáles.

Even in this case, they only experienced hate reactions on the Internet. “I’m sure if people were there this ‘confusion’ wouldn’t have happened at all,” said the organiser.

According to him, the question of how to approach the problem is not simple, because it is a very sensitive topic. “On the one hand, we want to deny any connection with the Ukrainian flag, on the other hand, we don’t want to sound like we think that Russia is not responsible for the war in Ukraine,” Procházková explained the dilemma. and his colleagues encountered.

In the end, they resolved the situation with simple comments, in which they distanced themselves from any political overtones of the event and, among other things, also appealed to their fellow citizens to be polite and respectful.