Direction – Social Democracy

The protests are directed against plans by Prime Minister Robert Fico's government to close the Office of the Special Prosecutor for Financial Crimes.
An estimated 30,000 protesters filled the main square in Bratislava, carrying banners that read, among other things, "Enough, Fico" and "Hands off our democracy," reports Reuters.

Day 623 of the invasion of Ukraine. Summary of key events in the last 24 hours:

Slovak police have accused the intelligence chief and other senior security officials of creating a criminal group and conspiring to abuse power in a case just weeks before early elections, Reuters reported.

Meanwhile, two off-duty US soldiers stationed in central Slovakia caused an incident in a grocery store last weekend, which needless to say is being exploited by pro-Russian elements in the country. Though nobody was hurt and the two soldiers did not damage anything, they were loud and under the influence of alcohol.

Meanwhile, President Caputova, the most trusted Slovak politician, does not often talk about how often she and her daughters receive various threats, including death threats. Yet earlier this week, she posted on social media that she is prepared to take legal action against Smer leader and former PM Robert Fico.

The departed but mostly unlamented coalition government, the first version of which was pieced together in February 2020 by four parties in a push to unseat Fico's Smer party following eight years of increasing authoritarianism and corruption, certainly wasn't helped by circumstances.

"Giving up is not a solution. It's what the mafia wants," Heger wrote on social media soon after, employing a term that Matovič's OĽaNO often uses to refer to previous governments led by Robert Fico's Smer party.

The ruthless double murder of two innocent people on February 21, 2018, triggered the largest wave of anti-government protests in Slovakia's modern history.

A referendum will take place in Slovakia on Saturday, as citizens vote on a constitutional change that would make it possible to shorten parliament's term through a referendum or by a majority vote in the parliament. The referendum, the first in seven years, was initiated by the opposition Smer party back in 2021.

Things had all seemed so different a year ago.