A number of protests were held in the Slovak capital on Wednesday, on the Constitution Day holiday. These resulted in scuffles with the police and traffic blockades. The Bratislava-based protests organised by the far-right railed mostly against the Government and Covid-19 vaccination. Police had to deal with two incidents during protests held in the city of Košice on the same day too. According to the Regional Police the protests were otherwise peaceful. Three protests took place in Košice on Constitution Day. Two were anti-government events, organised by the opposition Smer-SD and non-parliamentary Republic parties, respectively, and the third was an anti-protest to voice disapproval of the first two protests.
At the protest in Košice, Smer-SD leader Robert Fico announced that if Smer's motion to amend the Constitution did not pass, the party would start collecting signatures for a referendum on a early election immediately. Fico explained that their motion had been submitted to amend the Constitution in such a way, so as to "enable the replacement of the bad government". He added that Slovakia has a modern Constitution, but the Government and President are misusing it in a scope unprecedented in Slovakia's history. PM Eduard Heger stated that he is not afraid of discussion. He added, however, that he is worried that a fruitful discussion and factual argumentation might be overshadowed by hatred and an unwillingness to listen to each other. According to him, if the citizens and state bodies were to behave in accordance with the Constitution, we would live in a free and just country, under the rule of law. According to the President Zuzana Čaputová, "in a democracy, the Constitution must be honoured even when its provisions stand in the way of pursuing personal or collective political aspirations".
