Czechs Protest Plans For Michael Jackson Statue

An April 2005 photo of Michael Jackson

Thousands of Czechs are protesting plans to put up a statue of Michael Jackson in Prague to mark the celebrity's 52nd birthday on August 29, AP has reported.

City officials have already given a green light to the raising of the two-meter bronze bust of the late "King of Pop" on the grounds of Letna park, a plane high above the Vltava and downtown where Jackson played a megaconcert in 1996.

Now, more than 2,000 people have joined a Facebook protest of the project, AP says.

The installation was slated for completion by August 29, according to the local daily "Mlada Fronta Dnes."

A huge statue of Josef Stalin once glowered down on the Czech capital from the same park before it was destroyed in 1962.

Michael Jackson died one year ago at the age of 51.