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A Czech parish priest has apologised to local children after stomping on Halloween pumpkins near his church.

Father Jaromir Smejkal destroyed the carved pumpkins on two successive days in a park in Kurdejov, a village in the wine-making region of South Moravia.

He has apologised for the vandalism in an open letter to the mayor and published on the village Facebook page.

He said he would have acted differently had he known they were carved by children.

"Leaving the rectory on Sunday evening, I saw numerous symbols of the satanic feast of 'Halloween' placed in front of our sacred grounds," he wrote.

"I acted according to my faith and duty to be a father and protector of the children entrusted to me and removed these symbols," said Father Smejkal, parish priest at the Roman Catholic Church of St John the Baptist.

He added that in his view the modern tradition of Halloween had been conceived in a "heathen, contemporary world", as a counterbalance to the Catholic feast of All Souls' Day.

Breclavsky Denik newspaper, which first reported the story, said the local children had carved the pumpkins as part of Halloween festivities organised by the village.

Some children are said to have been in tears when they were told their creations had been destroyed. New pumpkins were left in the park but were found scattered and stomped on the next day, reported the paper.

Father Smejkal said it had not been his intention to harm anyone, especially not children.

"But try to remember that my duty as a figure of authority and a priest is to protect children and families from hidden evil," he went on.

The Czech Republic is considered to be one of the least religious countries in the world. However, some traditional religious feasts - including All Souls' Day - remain popular, and are marked by both believers and atheists alike.

Some Czechs complain their traditions are being eroded by highly commercialised imports from the West, with Halloween being a prime example.

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