Slovaks join protest wave rippling through eastern Europe

Thousands of Slovaks have marched in a major protest against corruption which echoed similar demonstrations that have rippled around the region this year.

The rally was the largest seen for several years in the Slovak capital, Bratislava, and like other protest movements in Romania, Serbia, Hungary and even Russia, the main driving force was students angry at their populist government.

About 5,000 people marched through Bratislava on Tuesday, to demand the dismissal of senior Slovak officials who are accused of failing to tackle graft: interior minister Robert Kalinak, police chief Tibor Gaspar and prosecutor Dusan Kovacik.

"We are frustrated with the situation in Slovakia, " David Straka (18), one of the protest organisers, was quoted as saying by Slovakia's Sme newspaper.

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“This march is devoted mostly to the fight against corruption. We as students want to stay in the country but what is happening here discourages many of us. The country cannot flourish due to corruption.”

Several Slovak celebrities joined the marchers, who urged prime minister Robert Fico to ensure investigations took place into major corruption cases dating back to the 1990s, amid anger at the perceived impunity of influential people.

“If we remain silent nothing will change, therefore I challenge people to speak if they see something happening that isn’t right,” Slovak president Andrej Kiska said before the march, while urging Mr Kalinak to resign.

Frustration

As in several countries around the region, there is widespread frustration in Slovakia with the apparent “capture” of state institutions by an elite that unites figures in politics, business, media and the security services.

Hundreds of thousands of people took the streets in Romania earlier this year to force the government to scrap a proposal to soften anti-corruption law.

In Serbia, young people are at the forefront of continuing protests against Aleksandar Vucic, the prime minister who was elected president this month in a victory that critics say was skewed by his domination of all branches of power.

In Russia on March 26th, police arrested hundreds of people at unauthorised rallies in towns and cities around the country, which were sparked by campaigner Alexei Navalny's investigation into the alleged corruption of prime minister Dmitry Medvedev; thousands of teenagers were again in the vanguard of those protests.

Hungary is also in the midst of its biggest demonstrations for several years, as students lead opposition to reforms by the government of prime minister Viktor Orban that could force Budapest's renowned Central European University to close.

The European Union and United States have criticised Mr Orban's policies, and leading academics and intellectuals – including author Colm Toibin – have denounced the apparent attack on CEU.

Hungary's government insists the reforms are aimed only at ensuring fair competition between universities, but they are widely seen as part of a crackdown on projects funded by George Soros, a billionaire liberal and critic of Mr Orban.

On Wednesday, Hungary’s parliament began debating a controversial Bill that would tighten financial scrutiny of all NGOs that receive financing from abroad.