Opposition Protests Against Populist Prime Minister Robert Fico's Government in Slovakia

Thousands of protesters gathered in the Slovak capital Bratislava on Sunday, the 35th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution that ended decades of communist rule in Czechoslovakia, to oppose the policies of populist Prime Minister Robert Fico.

This protest united the opposition along with the liberal Progressive Slovakia, the pro-business Freedom and Solidarity, and the conservative Christian Democrats. All of these parties have said that Prime Minister Fico is a threat to democracy.

‘Slovakia is and will be a part of Western civilisation,’ conservative political veteran Frantisek Miklosko told the crowd at the SNP square in the city centre. He was one of Slovakia's leaders in 1989. After that, Czechoslovakia peacefully split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993.

 ‘We don't want anyone to move us towards Moscow,’ he stressed.

Branislav Hreling, leader of the Freedom and Solidarity Party, said Fico was leading the country ‘towards an authoritarian regime, like in Russia and communist China’.

‘The government is taking away our freedom and democracy,’ placards in the crowd read.

Michal Šimečka, head of Progressive Slovakia, which is currently the most popular party in the country, said the opposition would do everything possible to defend freedom and democracy.

Incumbent Prime Minister Fico and his left-wing Smer party won last year's parliamentary elections on a pro-Russian and anti-American platform. His government has pushed through a copycat Russian legislative plan to overhaul public broadcasting. This, together with amendments to the criminal code and the elimination of the special anti-corruption prosecutor, has opponents worried that Fico is leading Slovakia down an autocratic path, following the example of Hungary with populist pro-Russian Prime Minister Orban.