PRAGUE — Tens of thousands of people jammed into Prague’s historic Wenceslas Square late Tuesday to demand the resignation of Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and his new justice minister, in one of the largest demonstrations since the Velvet Revolution.

The rally was the latest — and largest — in a series of anti-Babiš protests that have been held every week in Czech cities since he replaced Jan Kněžínek with Marie Benešová as head of the justice ministry. The change was made on April 30, one day after Czech police recommended the prime minister be charged with subsidy fraud involving €2 million in EU funds for his Stork’s Nest resort.

Protesters suspect that Benešová, an old ally of the prime minister, will suppress or delay the case. If convicted, Babiš could face between five and 10 years in prison. He has strenuously denied the charges and vowed not to resign if indicted.

Organizers said 120,000 demonstrators turned out on Tuesday evening. The scale of the protest recalled the Velvet Revolution demonstrations that ended communist rule in then-Czechoslovakia three decades ago.

Waving placards reading “We have had enough!” and “Resign!” the demonstrators also demanded that Babiš return EU funds that a preliminary European Commission audit found his Agrofert conglomerate had received illegitimately, according to a media report citing a leaked copy of the audit.

Sensing blood in the water, opposition politicians were quick to pounce, and demanded that Babiš propose a vote of confidence.

The findings, which were sent to Prague last week and made public by the daily Hospodářské noviny, concluded that Babiš had breached conflict-of-interest rules in connection with subsidies paid to the holding company.

One of the richest men in the Czech Republic, Babiš placed Agrofert — a business empire encompassing more than 200 companies — in a trust two years ago. However, both Transparency International, and apparently now the EU, have found that he remains the conglomerate’s beneficial owner.

If the Commission's findings are confirmed by the official report, to be submitted later this month, the Czech Republic may have to return €17.5 million to the EU.

The audit dominated Tuesday’s session of the lower house of the Czech parliament, the Chamber of Deputies. During the debate, Babiš told MPs that the report contains no evidence of wrongdoing and that he would not return any funds to Brussels.

“I would be crazy if I did,” he said.

He went on to accuse the Commission of producing a “dubious audit," describing it as "an attack on the Czech Republic, an attack on the interests of the Czech Republic, destabilizing the Czech Republic."

He also said the audit is not signed and that he could not determine who had written it.

Opposition on attack

Sensing blood in the water, opposition politicians were quick to pounce, and demanded that Babiš propose a vote of confidence. But he refused, and challenged opposition parties to launch the vote themselves.

Babiš’s ANO movement and his coalition partners, the Social Democrats (ČSSD), have 93 MPs in the 200-seat Chamber of Deputies. The minority government survives thanks to the support of the Czech Communists, who have 15 MPs.

The chairman of the center-right ODS party, Petr Fiala, told news service iDNES that the opposition would insist that companies associated with the prime minister stop receiving subsidies, a request seconded by the Social Democrats.

In addition, both the ČSSD and ODS demanded that no government members from the prime minister's ANO party be involved in the official Czech response to the Commission's audit.

“Being in a government with a criminally charged prime minister ... is not exactly an opportunity to win votes” — ČSSD MP Radek Hlaváček

“We are really worried,” Social Democrat Deputy Chairman Ondrej Veselý told Hospodářské noviny. “Otherwise it will be a biased response and the European Commission is not interested in that."

The Social Democrats' position is the latest in a series of indications that the relationship between the prime minister and his coalition partner could be fraying.

The Social Democrats’ disastrous showing in last week’s European election, in which they received a mere 3.9 percent of the vote and no seats in the European Parliament, has some party members questioning whether they should stay in government.

ČSSD MP Radek Hlaváček told Czech television following the election, “Being in a government with a criminally charged prime minister, a government against which the streets are demonstrating, is not exactly an opportunity to win votes.”