Slovak Police Detain Former PM Before Rally

Bratislava, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 17th Dec, 2021 ) :Slovak police on Thursday detained former prime minister Robert Fico before he was due to hold an anti-government demonstration despite pandemic restrictions on crowd size.

Gatherings of more than six people are currently banned according to the anti-Covid measures in the EU member, whose infection rate is one of the world's highest.

The protest organised by the populist left Smer-SD party, whose chair is Fico, still went ahead Thursday evening with dozens of honking cars making their way through the capital Bratislava.

"I was detained and accused of incitement. It is absurd. This is the end of democracy. I did not incite anything," Fico told journalists after he was released.

Police spokesman Michal Szeiff told AFP that officers "detained R.F. shortly before 6 pm" and said law enforcement would provide further details on Friday.

It was unclear whether Fico would face any charges.

Smer-SD had announced the rally on Tuesday, saying they were protesting the president's refusal last month to allow a referendum proposed by the party.

President Zuzana Caputova had dismissed the referendum, which called for a snap election over the government's handling of the pandemic, after the Constitutional Court ruled that it went against the Constitution.

"President Caputova ignored the will of over 600,000 Slovaks calling for a referendum," Fico told journalists Tuesday.

He explained the protest as a way to "express our disagreement with the policy of the government and its spokeswoman, President Caputova, who has buried democracy." Fico was forced to resign in 2018 after an investigative journalist's murder exposed high-level corruption and sparked a wave of anti-government sentiment.

The reporter, Jan Kuciak, had been probing murky ties between businessmen, politicians and other senior officials when he was killed.

Well-connected multi-millionaire entrepreneur Marian Kocner was charged with ordering the hit.

He was acquitted, but the Supreme Court overturned the ruling earlier this year and called for a fresh trial.