Thousands protest against Robert Fico’s government

Several thousand people gathered in several cities on Sunday evening Slovakia protested against the three-party government led by left-wing populist Prime Minister Robert Fico.

At the largest rally in the capital Bratislava Opposition media estimated the number of participants at 17 to 18,000.

Two liberal and one conservative opposition parties called for the protests. The occasion was the 35th anniversary of the beginning of the so-called “Soft Revolution” on November 17, 1989 against the communist regime of Czechoslovakia.

Protests in Slovakia against “authoritarian tendencies”

The brutal suppression of a student demonstration in Prague triggered mass protests in Czechoslovakia that ultimately led to the fall of the dictatorship. That’s why the anniversary is a national holiday in both the Czech Republic and Slovakia as the “Day of the Fight for Freedom and Democracy”.

The opposition parties accuse the Fico government, which consists of two social democratic parties and a right-wing populist party, of authoritarian tendencies. That’s why the population must take to the streets again to defend freedom and democracy, they said, justifying their call for protest.

In the crowd of demonstrators in Bratislava, banners could be seen with inscriptions such as: “The government is taking away democracy and freedom from us. In return it is offering us revenge and hatred.”

Michal Simeckathe head of the liberal largest opposition party “Progressive Slovakia” (PS) said in his speech at the protest rally in Bratislava: “Freedom and democracy are no guarantee of good government. Otherwise Robert Fico wouldn’t have been ruling us for 14 years.”

Fico won the parliamentary election in autumn 2023 and became head of government for the fourth time after a short interruption.