Illustrative stock photo (source: Sme)
The government approved the amendment to the law on railways based on which the only subjects authorised to monitor the public order on trains and at railway stations are police and people designated by railway carriers.
As a result, the activities of patrols of far-right extremists from the People’s Party – Our Slovakia (ĽSNS) led by Marian Kotleba will become illegal, the SITA newswire reported.
The patrols targeting mostly Roma first appeared in trains in April. ĽSNS supporters started organising them after 16-year-old Šimon attacked 21-year-old Viktória and stole her purse. Kotleba called him a “Gypsy extremist”, as reported by SITA.
The members of the patrol can be recognised by their green T-shirts of ĽSNS.
The passenger carrier ZSSK has also changed the rules for transport, according to which any form of business-making, sales, promotion, surveys and data collection in trains is banned without ZSSK’s permission. This includes political campaigning or support of political programmes or mottos, even if passengers have a valid train ticket.
ĽSNS claimed in early August that despite the ban it is ready to continue with patrols and wants to launch them in western Slovakia as of autumn, SITA wrote.
