Tens of thousands of people demonstrate Slovakia against Prime Minister Fico

Tens of thousands of people throughout Slovakia demonstrate against the government of Prime Minister Robert Fico, defying his warnings that provocateurs linked to the liberal opposition would use the demonstrations to cause a coup.

Gatherings take place in some 25 Slovak cities, the last of a series of demonstrations against its populist-nationalist coalition.

The demonstrators are angry with what they consider as an attack on the institutions, the culture and the position of the country within the EU and NATO, in particular by its increasing attacks against Ukraine and its Rapper with Moscow.

Fico denies the opposition affirmations that he wishes to withdraw Slovakia from the EU and NATO, claiming that his country’s membership of the two institutions is not questioned.

The Local Dennik newspaper only estimates 100,000 people participated in demonstrations throughout Slovakia, including at least 40,000 in the capital alone.

Some 10,000 people would have taken up the streets of Banska Bystrica, a city of 75,000 inhabitants.

Thursday, 15,000 people demonstrated in Kosice, the second city in Slovakia, to avoid a confrontation. A separate event will be held there this evening.

No case of violence or disorder has been reported, unlike Fico warnings this week that provocateurs would encourage demonstrators to attack public buildings, causing a police reaction leading to greater demonstrations.

Earlier Friday, Fico told journalists that the police were soon to begin to expel several foreign “instructors” who, according to him, were in Slovakia to help the opposition try to overthrow his government.

On Wednesday, he summoned a government Security Council meeting, claiming that the intelligence services had concrete evidence that a group of foreign provocateurs involved in recent demonstrations in Georgia and 2014 in Ukraine were active in Slovakia.

The Slovak Internal Intelligence Service, the SIS, confirmed these statements, but has given few details. The opposition has little confidence in the SIS, because it is led by the son of a deputy for the Fico’s Smer party.

Fico said that the “large -scale” cyber attack that struck the country’s sickness insurer on Friday was a classic model “in the way of liquidating a disobedient government which has unorthodox opinions on certain things” – a reference to its opposition to the armament of Ukraine and its efforts. Restore relations with Moscow.

He indicated that such activities were carried out “by opposition representatives, NGOs organized from abroad, foreign instructors and the media”.

Dennik later reported that the incident was in fact a phishing attempt, not a cyber attack, and that it was not particularly on a large scale.

Slovak officials said that a previous cyber attack against the country’s cadastre could have come from Ukraine. Kyiv categorically denied this accusation.