BRATISLAVA, August 7, (WEBNOVINY)- About 600 supporters of ultra-extremist movements rallied on Zupne Square in Bratislava in the afternoon of Saturday planning a national pilgrimage to the statue of the Great Moravian emperor Svatopluk recently placed in the premises of Bratislava Castle. The crowd led by Michal Misun was also joined by the former leader of far-right organization Slovenska Pospolitost (Slovak Togetherness) and current head of ultra-right party Nase Slovensko (Our Slovakia) Marian Kotleba. Extremists carried banners and Slovak and party flags chanting slogans against the ruling coalition and Jews marching through the Pld Town.
Protesters’s march was stopped by the city police at the Bratislava Castle entrance gate. In their speeches, Misun and Kotleba criticized the current government mainly the SaS party for the intention to remove the statue of Svatopluk from the castle. Extremists say that Svatopluk is a symbol of Slovaks and Slovakia. The police blocked the gate after participants of the dissolved gathering started accruing in front of the castle. They wanted to make it inside in order to pay tribute to Svatopluk as individuals. Police however dissolved the crowd while four persons in Nase Slovensko T-shorts remained on the ground after the action. Police detained Kotleba and several other persons. They intervened shortly after mayor of Old Town Andrej Petrek had urged the protesters to quit the place.
In reaction to the National Pilgrimage march, about 50 mostly young people gathered in front of the Parliament building They came to protest against violence, fascism, neo-Nazism, and the spreading of ideas towards the oppression of human rights and freedoms.
Robert Mihaly of the initiative UM! reasoned that these extremists pretend they protect national interests and call for the freedom of speech while they in fact oppress other people’s freedom of speech , including homosexuals and various other minorities. Mihaly also read greetings from representatives of NGOs People Against Racism, Man in Peril, and the initiative for Transparent Democracy and Intelligence who are on holiday. He ascribes the lower-than-expected attendance just to the peaking holiday season. The organizers had expected about 200 people to join the protest.
The recently unveiled statue of Svatopluk has cast doubts among experts and the public as well regarding its historical accuracy, artistic value, and location while the UM! sheltered protest was originally to feature an expert discussion on whether or not it was a correct decision to erect the statue at the Bratislava Castle. However, it had to be canceled in the end as neither the author of the statue Jan Kulich nor former Prime Minister Robert Fico who was the initiator of the idea to erect Svatoplik at the Castle answered the initiation. All 150 members of parliament got the invitation as well but the only one to come was human rights activist Ondrej Dostal of OKS who made it to parliament on the MOST-HID slate. Also two organizers of the Rainbow Pride in May came to support the protest. Protesters against extremism finally shaped a symbolic heart near the statue.
SITA