Banners of activists with Robert Fico, Béla Bugár, Daniel Lipšic and Richard Sulík (source: TASR)
Around 500 people gathered for the tenth protest staged in front of Prime Minister Robert Fico’s private flat rented in the Bonaparte residential complex in Bratislava on August 22, calling for the resignations of both Fico and Interior Minister Robert Kaliňák. The Bonaparte complex belongs to businessman Ladislav Bašternák, who is suspected of tax fraud. Opposition parties Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) and OĽaNO-NOVA allege that Kaliňák provided cover for Basternák when he was being investigated by police.
Opposition parties SaS and OĽaNO-NOVA have been organising rallies regularly since June 20. Apart from Bratislava the protests are held also in other towns of Slovakia. This time the opposition also organised a protest in Prievidza.
Activists from the Human Rights Institute arrived at the event – the smallest to date – to voice their disagreement that such a rally is organised by opposition parties SaS and OĽaNO-NOVA, for which they received criticism from protest participants.
After the rally started, the activists stood up below the tribune and held posters featuring Fico and Béla Bugár as well as leaders of opposition Igor Matovič, Daniel Lipšic and Richard Sulík. When standing under the tribune, some attendants of the rally started shouting at them to leave and hit them with slogan banners. After these physical incidents the police arrived to protect the activists. Soon afterwards they conducted the activists away from the crowd for their own safety.
