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Rob Cameron
Prague – correspondent
EPATens of thousands of people across Slovakia are demonstrating against the government of Prime Minister Robert Fico, defying warnings that provocateurs linked to the liberal opposition will use the protests to trigger a coup.
The rallies are being held in around 25 Slovak towns and cities, the latest in a series of protests against his populist-nationalist coalition.
Protesters are angry at what they say is FICO’s undermining of institutions, culture and the country’s standing in the EU and NATO, particularly its increased attacks on Ukraine and rapprochement with Moscow.
Fico says he has a “sovereign” Slovak foreign policy aimed at “all four cardinal points of the compass”.
EPAHe denies opposition claims that he wants to withdraw Slovakia from the EU and NATO, saying that his country’s membership in both institutions is out of the question.
The Dennik N website estimated that around 100,000 people across Slovakia attended the protests, with at least 40,000 in the capital alone.
It was reported that about 10,000 took to the streets of Bansko Baystrika, 75,000 in the city.
On Thursday, 15,000 demonstrated in Slovakia’s second city Kosice to avoid clashing with a separate event being held there tonight.
There were no reports of violence or disorder this week, despite Fick’s warning that provocateurs would encourage demonstrators to attack public buildings, leading to a police response that led to large protests.
Earlier on Friday, Fico said police would soon begin deporting several foreign “instructors” he said were in Slovakia to help the opposition try to topple his government.
On Wednesday, he called a meeting of the government’s security council, saying that intelligence services have concrete evidence that a group of foreign provocateurs involved in recent protests in Georgia and in 2014 in Ukraine were operating in Slovakia.
Slovakia’s internal intelligence service, SIS, confirmed the claims but gave few details. The opposition has little faith in the sister, because the son of the deputy in the Smer-Fika party is in charge.
Fico said the “massive” cyber attack that hit the health insurer on Friday was a textbook “on how to take down a recalcitrant government that has unorthodox views on certain things” – a reference to his opposition to armed Ukraine and his efforts to fix relations with Moscow.
He said that such events are held by “representatives of the opposition, organized by NGOs from abroad, foreign teachers and mass media.”
Dannick H later reported that the incident was actually a phishing attack, not a cyber-attack, and not a particularly large-scale one.
Slovak officials said that the previous cyber-attack on the country’s land registry could come from Ukraine. Kyiv categorically denied the accusation.
