Head bodyguard resigns over attack on Czech president

Czech President Vaclav Klaus's chief bodyguard Jiri Sklenka resigned Saturday after the president survived a shooting scare. "Although I wasn't present during the incident ... after watching it on the video I feel responsible for the actions of my subordinates," Sklenka said. Klaus was lightly injured while opening a bridge in Chrastava in the northern Czech Republic on Friday after a man clad in camouflage gear took several shots at him with an airsoft plastic gun. The astonished bodyguards let the shooter walk away before police detained him a few minutes later. The aggressor, 26, was able to smoke a cigarette and give an interview to the media, explaining that he sympathised with the Communist party and wanted to protest against the Czech government's austerity programme. Klaus, 71, a fervent eurosceptic, harshly rebuked his bodyguards after the incident. "You really messed up," he said, according to Nova TV. The president was taken to hospital Friday evening, while pictures published by local media showed drops of blood on the right sleeve of his shirt.