News agency CTK estimated the turnout at about 10,000 people, smaller than a similar event a year ago which took place at the height of Europe's energy price surge.

"We made another step today to move out of the way the rock that is the government of Mr (Prime Minister Petr) Fiala," PRO leader Jindrich Raichl told the crowd in Prague's Wenceslas Square.

Under the current government, the Czech Republic has been a close ally of Ukraine, sending tanks, rocket launchers, helicopters, artillery shells and other material to help Ukrainian forces fighting Russia's invasion.

Raichl hailed the nationalist policies of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban as a role model and called for an alliance of Central European countries to counter Brussels.

Protesters also criticised the government's stewardship of the economy, which has suffered double-digit inflation and underperformed its European peers, with output not yet returning to pre-COVID levels.

Police said in a social media post they had detained one man at the rally wearing a patch of the Russian private military company Wagner Group on suspicion of supporting genocide, without giving further details.

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