Slovakia Increases Protection for Civil Servants Following Anti-Government Protests

Slovakia is strengthening the protection of ‘constitutional officers’ of the state due to the wave of anti-government protests in recent days. This was ordered by the country's Ministry of the Interior, RTVS reports.

The State Office for the Protection of Constitutional Officials has taken enhanced security measures due to the increase in the number of announced public actions, said Slovak Interior Ministry spokesman Matej Neumann. He did not specify who these measures concern and in what form.

‘We were forced to take these measures again due to the increased spread of hate speech against some constitutional officials, which could lead to an incident similar to the one that took place in Handlove on 15 May,’ said Slovak Interior Minister Matusz Szutai Esztok.

He was referring to the attempted assassination of Prime Minister Robert Fico, which left him in hospital for more than a month. After that, the Slovak authorities succeeded in passing a law that strengthened the security of a number of officials and restricted the right of citizens to protest near the homes of politicians and government officials.

As you know, in recent days, thousands of people have been protesting in Slovakia against the heads of the Ministries of Culture and Justice, whom the opposition accuses of personnel purges.