{"id":4419,"date":"2025-12-17T06:35:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T06:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/12\/17\/thousands-protest-in-slovakia-against-fico-governments-judicial-reforms\/"},"modified":"2025-12-17T06:35:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T06:35:11","slug":"thousands-protest-in-slovakia-against-fico-governments-judicial-reforms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/12\/17\/thousands-protest-in-slovakia-against-fico-governments-judicial-reforms\/","title":{"rendered":"Thousands protest in Slovakia against Fico government\u2019s judicial reforms"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>Protesters called on President Pellegrini, usually an ally of Prime Minister Fico, to veto the changes.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Thousands of people have rallied across Slovakia to protest against changes to the judicial system that opposition politicians and critics say are destroying the rule of law, Slovak media reported.<\/p>\n<p>Protesters filled much of a central square in the capital of Bratislava, and there were protests in eight other cities on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 3 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/10\/21\/slovak-court-sentences-pm-ficos-attacker-to-21-years-for-terror\">Slovak court sentences poet that shot PM to 21 years for \u2018terror attack\u2019<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/9\/26\/slovak-constitutional-change-promotes-anti-lgbtq-national-identity\">Slovak constitutional change promotes anti-LGBTQ \u2018national identity\u2019<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/10\/17\/how-will-putin-travel-to-budapest-to-meet-trump\">How will Putin travel to Hungary to meet Trump with ICC arrest warrant?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>The biggest opposition party, Progressive Slovakia, called the protest after <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/10\/21\/slovak-court-sentences-pm-ficos-attacker-to-21-years-for-terror\">Prime Minister Robert Fico<\/a>\u2018s leftist-nationalist government pushed legislative changes through parliament last week that dismantle the whistleblower protection agency and change the way the state deals with crown witnesses.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey took a chainsaw to the rule of law,\u201d Michal Simecka, the leader of Progressive Slovakia, told the crowd in Bratislava, according to a live video that streamed online.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSlovakia is the only country where the government approves laws to make life easier for criminals and mafia,\u201d he also said.<\/p>\n<p>People carried Slovak and European Union flags as well as placards with slogans, such as \u201cFico\u2019s government is helping Mafia\u201d, and chanted \u201cEnough of Fico\u201d and \u201cShame!\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4178541\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4178541\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/afp_6941c989aab0-1765919113.jpg?resize=770%2C430&#038;quality=80\" alt=\"A protester holds a banner reading \"For Christmas I wish to get a reason to be proud that I live here\" as demonstrators gather for a protest against the abolition of the whistleblower protection office and penal code changes in Bratislava, Slovakia on December 15, 2025.\" fetchpriority=\"low\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4178541\">A protester holds a banner reading, \u2018For Christmas I wish to get a reason to be proud that I live here\u201d, at a demonstration against the abolition of the whistleblower protection office and penal code changes [AFP]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Fico\u2019s critics claim that, under his government, Slovakia is following Hungary\u2019s lead under Prime Minister Viktor Orban.<\/p>\n<p>Fico\u2019s administration argues that the old whistleblower agency was politically abused. The administration has also weakened criminal codes for financial crimes, revamped the public broadcaster and pushed constitutional changes asserting national sovereignty over some EU laws, which has raised European Commission scrutiny.<\/p>\n<p>Fico\u2019s government has faced several large protests since coming to power in 2023. Tuesday\u2019s rally was one of the biggest since last February, when tens of thousands demonstrated against what critics say is an increasingly pro-Russian foreign policy.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4178544\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4178544\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/afp_6941c9d48dbb-1765919188.jpg?resize=770%2C513&#038;quality=80\" alt=\"A man holds a banner reading \"Gangster Fico is destroying Slovakia\" during a protest against the abolition of the whistleblower protection office and penal code changes in Bratislava, Slovakia on December 15, 2025.\" fetchpriority=\"low\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4178544\">A man holds a banner, reading \u2018Gangster Fico is destroying Slovakia\u2019, during a protest against the abolition of the whistleblower protection office and penal code changes [AFP]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Protesters called on President Pellegrini, usually an ally of Prime Minister Fico, to veto the changes. Thousands of people have rallied across Slovakia to protest against changes to the judicial system that opposition politicians and critics say are destroying the rule of law, Slovak media reported. Protesters filled much of a central square in the &#8230; <a title=\"Thousands protest in Slovakia against Fico government\u2019s judicial reforms\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/12\/17\/thousands-protest-in-slovakia-against-fico-governments-judicial-reforms\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Thousands protest in Slovakia against Fico government\u2019s judicial reforms\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4420,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}