Dozens of young people protested in SNP Square in Bratislava on March 14 against an ultra-right rally and march through the capital commemorating the war-time Slovak state and its controversial president, the priest Jozef Tiso.
The anti-fascist event was staged by the initiative “Bratislava Residents, Say ‘No’ to Neo-Nazis”. Dozens of police officers including Police President Ján Packa were monitoring the rally, the SITA newswire wrote.
University teacher Eduard Chmelár was supporting the anti-fascist initiative, too, saying that when neo-Nazis were marching on the streets here and now it was no longer a matter of history.
A representative of the anti-fascist initiative, Robert Mihály, said that the aim of the protest was to tell people that open supporters of fascism and neo-Nazi ideology are not welcomed in Bratislava. He said that it is important that people do not remain passive towards such ideologies.
He reported that 3,000 visitors to the Facebook website had supported the anti-fascist initiative. He urged responsible officials [Interior Minister Robert Kaliňák] and the Slovak government to change the national legislation. He stressed that failures and loopholes in the Slovak laws enable neo-Nazi marches like the one in Bratislava.
After departure from SNP Square, several activists commemorated the Holocaust message at Poštová Street where they installed forty stones by Ľubo Stacho featuring Jewish inscriptions and portraits of those who met their deaths in concentration camps who do not have their own graves.
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
