Gatherings organised by the opposition parties against austerity, or so-called consolidation took place in Bratislava, Košice, Banska Bystrica, Žilina and 12 other cities and towns in Slovakia on Tuesday evening.
Members of opposition parties PS, SaS, KDH and the extra-parliamentary Democrats, organized the protests. In Bratislava the heads of these parties, Michal Šimečka, Branislav Gröhling, Milan Majersky and Jaroslav Nagy all spoke at the event.
According to PS, the consolidation will affect working people. "There is strength in unity. We have to work together like this, mobilise people and show [Premier Robert] Fico's [Smer-SD] government that it can't do anything it wants. It can't impoverish people with impunity, sell them to the mafia or drag them off somewhere to Russia," said PS leader Michal Šimečka, adding that he considers the consolidation to be an attack on employees, sole traders and entrepreneurs.
Protests were also held in Trnava, Nitra, Trenčín, Prešov, Bardejov, Kežmarok (both Prešov region), Liptovsky Mikuláš, Ružomberok (Žilina region), Lučenec (Banska Bystrica region), Považská Bystrica (Trencin region), Senica (Trnava region) and Spišská Nova Ves (Košice region).
Source: TASR
