Bratislava: Tens of Thousands of People Demanded Snap Election

Bratislava, March 16 (TASR) – Tens of thousands of people gathered in the centre of Bratislava on SNP Square on Friday evening, demanding an early election and thorough and independent investigation into the murders of journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kusnirova.

The roughly two-hour rally for a decent Slovakia was peaceful and passed off without incident until its official end. The organisers estimated that more people attended the meeting than last Friday when about 50,000 participated.

According to the organisers, the rallies in dozens of towns and cities in Slovakia and abroad should point to the fact that people have the right to live in a country where corruption isn’t a standard and where government circles aren’t linked to organised crime.

“We consider the things that happened on Thursday (March 15) to be only an exchange of chess pieces. Robert Fico himself said he wasn’t going anywhere. The demand of today’s gathering is formation of a new, trustworthy government that should be created after a snap election,” Peter Nagy, one of the organisers, told TASR.

Several musicians and well-known Slovak actors, who came to encourage people, appeared on the stage. It isn’t clear whether the rallies for a decent Slovakia will also take place next week. The organisers will inform about the next steps.

Similar events took place in dozens of locations in Slovakia, including Banska Bystrica, Trnava, Nitra, Kosice, Skalica (Trnava region), Prievidza (Trencin region), Dolny Kubin, Povazska Bystrica (both Zilina region), Zvolen, Ziar nad Hronom (both Banska Bystrica region), Poprad (Presov region), and Michalovce and Roznava (Kosice region).

Foreign cities with rallies supporting a decent Slovakia involved, for example, Brussels, Copenhagen, Prague and Brno.