On January 18, large-scale protests took place in 23 cities of Slovakia. People expanded the list of demands for the government of the pro-Russian Prime Minister Robert Fico.
23 Slovak cities are protesting against Fico's government
Journalists draw attention to the fact that this is already the fifth round of protests in the country. Every time, the number of cities that join the rallies is growing sharply.
For example, the number of cities where people are protesting increased from 19 to 23.
The key demands of the protests now concern not only the plans for changes to the criminal code and the controversial reform of the special prosecutor's office. There are slogans for the resignation of the pro-Russian culture minister Martina Šimkovičová, as well as references to the minor car accident of the leader of the Slovak National Party Andrej Danko, a Fico's coalition partner who fled the scene.
More than the previous week in Bratislava, about 26,000 people joined the protest.
An identical trend is also observed: the number of dissatisfied citizens is constantly increasing in other cities of Slovakia.
According to journalists, the initiators of these rallies were opposition parties, but now public organisations are also joining them.
The Slovakian leader supports the demands of the protest participants
Slovak President Zuzana Chaputova spoke in the country's parliament on January 18.
She demands that lawmakers review plans to amend the criminal code and disband the special prosecutor's office, which has caused concern for official Brussels.
According to Chaputova, the introduction of such changes under an accelerated legislative procedure is "unprecedented", and the lack of proper expert discussion "increases the risks" since "an analysis of all its practical and technical consequences is lacking".
