Chaos in Slovakia
Anti-US premier is shot in crowd
Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot and injured during a broad-daylight assassination attempt while greeting supporters in his country on Wednesday.
Fico underwent surgery and was no longer in critical condition hours later, officials confirmed — as frightening footage emerged of the moment a gunman fired five shots outside a cultural center in the town of Handlová.
The clip showed Fico, 59, acknowledging supporters on the street when a man in a white shirt lunged across the crowd with a pistol pointed at the leader.
Grim footage
Amid gunfire, the wounded prime minister lurched backward, then police and security agents tackled a gunman to the ground, the footage circulating on social media showed.
Fico was hit by at least two bullets — with one striking him in the stomach.
After more than 3¹/₂ hours of surgery, Deputy Prime Minister Tomáš Taraba told the BBC that Fico “is expected to survive.”
“As far as I know the operation went well,” Taraba said. “He’s not in a life-threatening situation at this moment.”
Slovakia’s interior minister, Matúš Šutaj-Eštok, said the shooting was “politically motivated” after the country’s recent presidential election.
Fico’s official Facebook page called the shooting an assassination attempt.
Taraba added the prime minister was “heavily injured,” but the speed of the emergency response helped save his life.
It was initially unclear whether Fico would survive. Hours after the shooting, official reports from Šutaj-Eštok described Fico as being in “extraordinarily serious” condition and “fighting for his life.”
Separate footage from the scene showed a man thought to be the shooter being tackled to the ground and cuffed.
Another clip showed the seriously wounded Fico being carried away by his security detail and loaded into a black government car, which then sped off.
Pro-Russia platform
A staunch conservative, Fico was elected to his third term as prime minister in September after campaigning with a pro-Russian and anti-American stance.
In Slovakia, the prime minister is the most powerful office. Numerous demonstrations have been staged in the capital Bratislava against Fico’s policies since his election.
Despite the tensions, Fico’s opponents in government condemned the shooting and even canceled a planned protest after the attack.
“We absolutely and strongly condemn violence and today’s shooting of Premier Robert Fico,” progressive Slovakia politician Michal Simecka said.
“At the same time, we call on all politicians to refrain from any expressions and steps which could contribute to further increasing the tension,” he added.