Hundreds of people have been protesting in front of the Presidential Palace against anti-pandemic measures, President Zuzana Caputova, government members and MPs since Thursday morning. The crowd moved from the square in front of the building to the adjacent streets, blocking traffic and causing a traffic collapse in the city centre. The police were monitoring the situation, but saw no legal reason to dissolve the rally. The protesters announced a general strike, claiming that they are fighting restrictions on rights and the "genocide" of the Slovak people. The crowd also made negative remarks concerning the media and journalists.
The police began dispersing the crowd shortly after 8 p.m. on Thursday. Meanwhile, it is expected that the protest will resume on Friday.
Bratislava mayor Matus Vallo stated that if this is the case, he hopes that the state police will be better prepared and that the demonstration "won't go hand in hand with paralysing the city", a reference to the fact that the protesters on Thursday caused several traffic jams in the city centre by blocking a major intersection outside the palace. According to the police, the protest on Thursday was attended by 1,500 people.
"Everyone has the right to express their opinion, but they should do so in a decent manner and without restricting the freedom of others," Prime Minister Eduard Heger said in reaction to Thursday's protest. Heger, who is on a working trip in the upper Nitra region, pointed out through a video on the social network that Slovakia is currently on the edge of the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic. He called on the public to behave responsibly.
Every freedom, including the freedom of expression and assembly, goes hand in hand with responsibility, Bratislava's Old Town mayor Zuzana Aufrichtova said.
"Therefore, I am calling on the organisers and participants of the unannounced rally to respect the instructions of the police and state security forces, not to block roads and to refrain from any acts of violence or violation of the laws of the Slovak Republic," she said.
The police have not registered any serious violations of public order during the protests in the centre of the Slovak capital and no attacks on people have been registered, either, Police Corps Vice-president Robert Bozalka told a news conference on Thursday, adding that one car had been damaged and the offender had been detained on the spot. According to him, the police resolved the blockade by diverting traffic. "This rally wasn't announced. We've obtained a request from the President's Office to ensure the protection of the Presidential Palace's fence and we have done so," said Viliam Adamec, the head of the Police Corps' Regional Directorate in Bratislava. According to him, the police had no chance to prevent protesters from moving around the city centre.
A crowd protesting in the vicinity of the Presidential Palace in Bratislava refused to make way for a public city transport bus that found itself trapped in the underpass on Hodzovo namestie due to the protest so that it could continue its journey, Bratislava City Transport Company (DPB) said in reaction to pictures that have appeared on social networks.
"DPB is stressing that it hasn't joined the protest and it is distancing itself from the protest in this way," said DPB spokesman Martin Chlebovec.
