Thousands of people took to the streets in Slovakia again. They protested against Prime Minister Fico's government, which they accused of being aligned with Moscow.
They are afraid of a regime like those in Russia or China: thousands of people took to the streets in Slovakia to protest against the government. At the largest rally in the capital Bratislava, media estimated the number of participants at around 18,000.
Two liberal and one conservative opposition parties called for the protests. “The government is taking away our freedom and democracy,” read one poster. The demonstrators accuse the left-wing populist Prime Minister Robert Fico of authoritarian tendencies and fear that Slovakia will move closer to Moscow.
Slovak politician Frantisek Miklosko emphasized that the Slovak people do not want to be drawn to Moscow. “Slovakia is and remains a part of Western civilization,” he said.
“Democracy is no guarantee of good government”
The reason for the demonstrations was the 35th anniversary of the beginning of the so-called Velvet Revolution on November 17, 1989 against the communist regime in Czechoslovakia. 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”.
Michal Simecka, the head of the liberal largest opposition party Progressive Slovakia, 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.
