The Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is after a cabinet meeting in the town of Handlova shot and critically injured. The government office in Bratislava confirmed this to the TASR news agency on Wednesday.
The rescue service announced that they had the head of government flown by helicopter to a hospital in Banska Bystrica. A hospital spokesman told Reuters that Fico was conscious when he arrived at the hospital.
The attacker was arrested according to police. The background to the crime is still unclear. Eyewitnesses reported to the TV news channel TA3 that they were in front of the cultural center in Handlova At least four shots were heard when Fico went outside after the cabinet meetingto mingle with the public and shake hands. One shot got him hit in the chest. The Prime Minister then fell to the ground.
A video published by several online media outlets showed how companions rush the injured man into a car to temporarily bring him to safety. The video shows the alleged attacker being arrested on the other side of a barrier. According to media reports, the attacker is said to be about a 71-year-old man. The information was initially not officially confirmed.
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The city of Handlova with almost 20,000 inhabitants is located about 150 kilometers northeast of the capital Bratislava. Slovakia borders Ukraine and is a member of the EU and NATO.
Fico had a few days ago accused the liberal opposition of creating a climate of hostility against the government. It cannot be ruled out that in such a climate at some point an act of violence occurs. The deputy leader of Fico’s Smer party, Lubos Blaha, had previously canceled the ongoing parliamentary debate because of the news.
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The three-party government led by the left-wing populist Fico repeatedly holds meetings outside the capital Bratislava, such as in Handlova. The police evacuated the cultural center where the government meeting was held.
© dpa/Radovan Stoklasa
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) took the shots at Fico sharply condemned. “The news of the cowardly assassination attempt on Slovakian Prime Minister Fico shocks me very much,” he wrote on the online platform X on Wednesday. “Violence must have no place in European politics. During these hours my thoughts are with Robert Fico, his relatives and the citizens of Slovakia.”
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen took the attack condemned as “abhorrent”.. “Such acts of violence have no place in our society and undermine democracy, our greatest common good,” she wrote on the X platform on Wednesday. Her thoughts were with Fico and his family.
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Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens) was also affected. At the start of a speech in the Bundestag on Wednesday, the Federal Minister of Economics wished everyone a “get well soon”. called for verbal disarmament. Those who identify as belonging to the democratic spectrum should “weigh their words carefully.”
Top politicians in the neighboring country of the Czech Republic have also expressed their dismay. Prime Minister Petr Fiala spoke of shocking news. “We may Violence should not be tolerated; it must have no place in society“Wrote the liberal-conservative politician on the platform X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday. Czech President Petr Pavel said the attack was a Warning of where the deepening of hatred and aggressiveness in society could lead. (dpa)