Coalition leader Danko in trouble again, this time for petrol station incident

Hours after the attack on Prime Minister and Smer party leader Robert Fico last week, his coalition partner and deputy speaker of parliament Andrej Danko assaulted a customer at a petrol station near Nitra, western Slovakia.

“The government coalition has appealed to people to calm down [following the attack on Fico]. I agree, they could start by calming Andrej Danko down,” wrote former MP Juraj Šeliga (Demokrati) on Facebook.

Šeliga was the first to post the video online.

In early January 2024, Danko, who helms the coalition right-wing nationalist Slovenská Národná Strana (SNS) party, hit and damaged a traffic light pole with his car in Bratislava’s Dúbravka borough and avoided the police by driving home. He took a breath alcohol test 15 hours after the accident. The investigation also took a long time. It was closed after more than two months. Despite Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok’s promise to release a video from the accident as soon as possible, this only happened at the end of April. The video was of poor quality, though. Danko was fined €900, cannot drive a car for two years, and had to sweep a public space in Dúbravka.

Unlike the previous incident, video footage somewhat clearly shows what happened at the petrol station.

“According to witnesses, the drunk (Danko) knocked items out from the hand of a man who was standing there. ‘What are you looking at?’ provoked Danko. Then a mobile phone and candies are flying through the air,” Šeliga described the event.

The police are investigating the incident from last Wednesday as a suspicion of committing an offence against civil cohabitation after the assaulted customer turned to police. Danko may be fined €99, the Sme daily noted.

But according to the SNS party, Danko is the victim in this case. As the party described, Danko went to the toilet when a customer reportedly said his name aloud.

“Danko turned and let him know that he did not wish to be disturbed. No bodyguard or anyone else had to intervene,” the party told the Plus Jeden Deň tabloid daily.

The video, nevertheless, shows that Danko’s bodyguard had to intervene, possibly to prevent a further escalation between Danko and the assaulted customer.

In recent days, Danko has also been attacking the opposition and the media.