About 26,000 people took to the streets of Bratislava – Holding banners with slogans such as: “Don’t touch our democracy!” and “We will not be silent!”
Tens of thousands of people demonstrated yesterday, Thursday night across Slovakia against one criminal code reform planwhich mainly provides for the reduction of penalties for corruption and has already drawn criticism from the EU.
Around 26,000 people took to the streets of Bratislava, police said, while smaller rallies were held in more than 20 other cities.
Protesters in Bratislava held banners with slogans such as: “Don’t touch our democracy!” and “We will not be silent!”.
The criminal code reform, promoted by populist Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, also includes reducing penalties for financial crimes, but also the removal of protection for police officers who report corruption and irregularities.
The government also wants to abolish the office of the corruption and organized crime prosecutor, as, according to Fitsos, it is biased and treats Smer-SD party officials unfairly.
“Calm down Mr. Fico, you are drunk on power,” commented Michal Simeka, head of the opposition PS party, speaking at the central demonstration in Bratislava.
“Slovakia will see the biggest amnesty of criminals in history,” Richard Sulik, head of the SaS party, complained.
Parliament is expected to vote on the controversial changes through fast-track procedures, prompting a backlash from Slovakian President Zuzana Czaputova and opposition lawmakers.
On Wednesday, the European Parliament in its decision condemned the bill and expressed “its deep concern in the face of this unjustified acceleration of the legislative process” for its adoption. At the same time, he assessed that the changes to Slovakia’s criminal code “threaten the integrity of the judicial process and harm the EU’s fight against corruption”.
In a letter dated December 5, the European Commission had asked the Slovak government to postpone the reform.
Many thousands of people took to the streets of Bratislava and other Slovak cities protesting against this bill on December 12 and 19.
Tsaputova, a lawyer herself, yesterday called on the government to review the “ill-conceived and hasty” reforms.
Source :Skai
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