Plans to overthrow the government?

Slovakia steps up protection of official buildings

According to head of government Robert Fico, riots are to be provoked and government buildings occupied.(Bild: APA/AP)

The left-wing nationalist Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico accuses political opponents of plotting a coup. At a meeting of the National Security Council on Thursday, it was decided to protect official buildings such as the parliament and the seat of government.

According to Fico, the Slovakian secret service is said to have uncovered "structures with links abroad and to the Slovakian opposition" that wanted to "abuse" peaceful protest rallies. The plan was to provoke riots and occupy government buildings. This was intended to force the police to crack down, which could then be presented as violence against peaceful demonstrators. "There won't be twenty cameras as before, but 1740 cameras from all over the world," the TASR news agency quoted Fico as saying.

Is the aim to provoke violence against peaceful demonstrators?(Bild: APA/AFP/VLADIMIR SIMICEK)

Fico accused the liberal and conservative opposition parties of spreading untruths about an alleged change in Slovakian foreign policy in order to discredit the government internationally: "This government will never take steps that could cast doubt on our membership of the European Union and NATO."

President speaks of "very serious" situation
His opponents accuse Fico of pursuing a "pro-Russian" course. By launching plans to overthrow the government, he is trying to stir up panic in order to distract attention from the failure of his government policy. President Peter Pellegrini, on the other hand, confirmed that he also considers the situation to be "very serious" after seeing a recent report by the domestic intelligence service SIS.