A second protest against the ‘Gorilla political environment’ is scheduled for Friday, February 3 in Bratislava and organisers are predicting as many as 10,000 participants, the TASR newswire reported.
"The local authority in Bratislava’s Old Town district received a request to allow a public gathering on SNP Square on Friday between 16:00 and 19:00," TASR was informed by Old Town’s spokesman Tomáš Halán. A Gorilla protest last Friday, with about 2,000 participants, was held in reaction to revelations coming from the Gorilla wiretapping scandal that points to alleged massive corruption within Slovakia's top politics.
Old Town authorities said that they do not believe that organiser Lucia Gallová managed last week’s protest well as it ended up at the door of parliament after protesters broke the security cordon, throwing firecrackers, bananas and banana skins at the building. According to the law, public gatherings cannot come within 50 metres of the parliament building.
Parliament Office director Andrej Kramár assessed the damage to the parliament building at €3,000 to €5,000. He also said that the Parliament Office planned to file a criminal complaint against an unknown perpetrator. "It's not about taking revenge. We must file the complaint in line with the law on protection of state property," said Kramár.
More than 8,200 people have confirmed they will attend the 'Gorilla II' rally on Facebook and another 4,500 people are considering attending. Similar protests are scheduled this week in Prešov, Košice, Trenčín, Zvolen, Žilina and Ružomberok.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
