A Euronews reporter was on the bottom on the Roosevelt Hospital on Wednesday evening whereas docs have been preventing for the lifetime of Slovakia’s PM Robert Fico. This is what he noticed.
Because the journalists gathered across the makeshift podium on the Roosevelt Hospital in Banská Bystrica on Wednesday evening, Prime Minister Robert Fico’s authorities ministers couldn’t conceal their state of shock.
Fico, who was shot in an assassination try in Handlova earlier within the day, was being operated on within the close by constructing for a number of hours, and the knowledge was sparse.
“We are able to speak about whether or not you just like the prime minister or not, he’s preventing for his life,” a visibly rattled Defence Minister Robert Kaliňák mentioned in his opening assertion.
“I can not discover phrases for what we’re witnessing at the moment. We didn’t need Slovakia like this — nobody needs Slovakia like this.”
After his safety rushed him right into a black Audi, Fico was reportedly responsive upon arrival in Handlova’s native hospital.
Nonetheless, by the point he was airlifted to the trendy regional medical centre some 50 kilometres from the scene of the capturing, the information from his authorities mentioned his situation was important.
Within the meantime, the social media within the already polarised nation exploded to the purpose the place the Inside Ministry needed to make an attraction on Fb, asking for calm and cause.
Slovakian media report that it’s unclear whether or not Fico authorised the deputy PM to guide the federal government in his absence whereas he was nonetheless aware, a provision set by the structure when the highest job within the nation is unexpectedly or quickly vacated.
The one time Slovakia handled an analogous scenario was additionally underneath Fico, again in 2016, when he was in energy for the primary time. Whereas he underwent coronary heart surgical procedure, he was represented by Kaliňák, who was inside minister and deputy PM on the time.
‘That is the place we ended up’
The environment on the press convention indicated that the ministers have been nonetheless making an attempt to come back to phrases with the implications of the divisions Fico and his authorities had sowed within the nation for years.
Fico’s reputation spiked throughout the pandemic, when he led anti-restriction protests in opposition to COVID-19 security measures, going in opposition to medical consultants’ specific recommendation and profitable supporters amongst conspiracy theorists.
A populist who platformed on anti-Western rhetoric, Fico mentioned Slovakia wouldn’t ship “a single spherical of ammunition” to the more and more determined Ukraine, preventing Russia’s struggle of aggression on its soil for greater than two years.
Though Fico softened his stance on Ukraine solely just lately, Slovakian society stays firmly divided into two vocal camps — one being pro-Moscow and the opposite aligning with the broader European stance and even crowdfunding for the Ukrainian military.
On Wednesday in Banská Bystrica, Kaliňák was far faraway from his normal cynical self. “Everybody ought to take mirror and replicate, and take into consideration what’s really necessary at the moment within the Slovak Republic. That is the place we ended up,” he mentioned.
The streets close to the hospital have been practically empty aside from journalists and TV crews gathered in entrance. Because the ministers packed up and left, so did their entourage. The police and the helicopter that flew within the prime minister additionally departed.
In the meantime, in one of many few eating places nonetheless open near midnight, Slovaks have been watching hockey — an awfully common sport within the nation — cheering for his or her nationwide staff’s win in opposition to Poland, and it appeared that they didn’t care concerning the scenes unfolding within the close by hospital.