Crowds protest against former Slovak PM's attack on media
Thousands took to the streets of Slovakia on Friday demanding former
prime minister Robert Fico stop public attacks on the media and civil
society groups eight months after he was pushed out of office by the
furore over the murder of a journalist.
BRATISLAVA: Thousands took to the streets of Slovakia on Friday
demanding former prime minister Robert Fico stop public attacks on the
media and civil society groups eight months after he was pushed out of
office by the furore over the murder of a journalist.
Fico resigned under pressure from mass demonstrations in March but
remains chairman of the ruling Smer party and protesters on Friday said
he was still driving policy behind the scenes.
Crowds massed in the capital and seven towns in rallies organised by
'For A Decent Slovakia' - a group of mostly students and NGOs which has
organised a string of demonstrations against Fico and says it has no
link to the opposition.
Organisers said they were angered when Fico released a video message on
Tuesday addressed to "the clowns in the media", telling them: "We will
win the general elections again and I hope it hits ... you really hard."
In Slovak, "hit" can mean 'impact' as well as 'shoot'. A day later, more
than 300 journalists wrote an open letter saying Fico's words made them
a target and appeared to be a reference to the murder of journalist Jan
Kuciak in February.
Kuciak, who had been working on a story on EU subsidy fraud by
politically-connected businesspeople, was shot along with his fiancée at
home in what prosecutors say was a contract killing.
Kuciak's death prompted the biggest protests in Slovakia's
post-communist history, leading to a government shake-up. Fico was
replaced by his deputy Peter Pellegrini, disappointing many that no snap
elections were held and same three-party coalition stayed in power. The
next vote is due in 2020.
On Friday, the crowds chanted: "We are here for free, nobody paid for us
to come" - a response to past accusations from Fico that foreign powers
were stoking the demonstrations against him
Thousands took to the streets of Slovakia on Friday demanding former
prime minister Robert Fico stop public attacks on the media and civil
society groups eight months after he was pushed out of office by the
furore over the murder of a journalist.Join Geezgo for free. Use Geezgo's end-to-end encrypted Chat with your Closenets (friends, relatives, colleague etc) in personalized ways.>>
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