Slovakia's anti-Fico protests Draw Tens of Thousands Over Closer Ties with Russia and Allegations of Foreign "Coup"

Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in the central square of Slovakia's capital Bratislava and in 20 other cities across the country on Friday night, carrying placards against Prime Minister Robert Fico's policy of rapprochement with Russia, Reuters reports.

The rally in Bratislava's Freedom Square was attended by 60,000 people, about four times as many as during the last protest two weeks ago, organisers said. 

 ‘Enough with Fico’ and “We are Europe,” protesters shouted.  

The activists are outraged by what they say is Robert Fico's undermining of the country's institutions, culture and position in the EU and NATO, especially his increased attacks on Ukraine and rapprochement with Moscow.

This week, the government accused the opposition of ‘attempting to cause chaos’ and is planning ‘new preventive security measures’ as Fico himself said the opposition is planning to escalate the protests as part of an attempt to illegally overthrow the government and seize state institutions.

In contrast, the opposition and civil society organisations responsible for the protests have rejected these accusations, saying they are aimed at diverting attention from political issues that the fragile government coalition cannot resolve.

The latest surge of protests came after Fico privately travelled to Russia in December to meet with dictator Vladimir Putin about gas supplies to Slovakia despite EU sanctions and the end of the Russian gas transit contract with Ukraine.

After that, the opposition parties Progressive Slovakia (PS), Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) and Christian Democrats (KDH) resubmitted a motion of no confidence in the government of Prime Minister Robert Fico.