Prague international airport to bear Havel’s name
Mar 21, 2012, 5:47 PM
PRAGUE (AP) – A petition drive by Czechs has persuaded their government to rename Prague’s Ruzyne International Airport after the late President Vaclav Havel.
Transport Minister Pavel Dobes announced the decision Wednesday, saying he has proposed the state-run airport make the name change on Oct. 5, the 76th anniversary of Havel’s birthday.
Dobes says Havel’s widow, Dagmar, has approved the plan to honor Havel that way.
More than 82,000 people had signed a petition demanding the change. Filmmaker Fero Fenic, who came up with the plan, called the government’s approval “great news.”
Havel was the dissident playwright who led the 1989 revolution that toppled four decades of communist rule before becoming the country’s president. He died Dec. 18 at age 75.
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