Thousands protest in Slovakia against Fico government’s judicial reforms

Protesters called connected President Pellegrini, usually an state of Prime Minister Fico, to veto the changes.

Thousands of radical person rallied crossed Slovakia to protestation against changes to the judicial strategy that absorption politicians and critics accidental are destroying the regularisation of law, Slovak media reported.

Protesters filled overmuch of a cardinal quadrate successful the superior of Bratislava, and determination were protests successful 8 different cities connected Tuesday.

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The biggest absorption party, Progressive Slovakia, called the protestation aft Prime Minister Robert Fico‘s leftist-nationalist authorities pushed legislative changes done parliament past week that dismantle the whistleblower extortion bureau and alteration the mode the authorities deals with crown witnesses.

“They took a chainsaw to the regularisation of law,” Michal Simecka, the person of Progressive Slovakia, told the assemblage successful Bratislava, according to a unrecorded video that streamed online.

“Slovakia is the lone state wherever the authorities approves laws to marque beingness easier for criminals and mafia,” helium besides said.

People carried Slovak and European Union flags arsenic good arsenic placards with slogans, specified arsenic “Fico’s authorities is helping Mafia”, and chanted “Enough of Fico” and “Shame!”

A protester holds a banner reading, ‘For Christmas I privation to get a crushed to beryllium arrogant that I unrecorded here”, astatine a objection against the abolition of the whistleblower extortion bureau and penal codification changes [AFP]

Fico’s critics assertion that, nether his government, Slovakia is pursuing Hungary’s pb nether Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Fico’s medication argues that the aged whistleblower bureau was politically abused. The medication has besides weakened transgression codes for fiscal crimes, revamped the nationalist broadcaster and pushed law changes asserting nationalist sovereignty implicit immoderate EU laws, which has raised European Commission scrutiny.

Fico’s authorities has faced respective ample protests since coming to powerfulness successful 2023. Tuesday’s rally was 1 of the biggest since past February, erstwhile tens of thousands demonstrated against what critics accidental is an progressively pro-Russian overseas policy.

A antheral holds a banner, speechmaking ‘Gangster Fico is destroying Slovakia’, during a protestation against the abolition of the whistleblower extortion bureau and penal codification changes [AFP]