Approximately 1,000 people, most of them students, gathered outside the Presidential Palace on March 10 to protest against the newly-approved Patriot Act, the TASR newswire wrote.
“On behalf of all students, I want to call on President Ivan Gašparovič not to sign the act ... We disagree that a democratic state should force an emotion that ought to be candid and free,” said Robert Mihály of “The Initiative for Transparent Democracy”. Mihaly added that petitions aimed at collecting enough signatures to have a referendum on the legislation will be launched.
The president’s spokesman Marek Trubač said that Gašparovič views the event as a natural display of democracy. Education Minister Ján Mikolaj of the Slovak National Party (SNS), which drafted the bill, said that he senses some kind of politicking and manipulation behind the activities of the initiative. Mihály said that the event is purely apolitical. Even though some political parties have approached the organisers of the rally, “we said no to them as we don't want anybody to score political points from this.” TASR
For more information, read Patriot Act - Slovak style.
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
