Churchgoers in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia reflect on assassination attempt on Prime Minister Fico

(19 May 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Banská Bystrica, Slovakia - 19 May 2024
1. Various of downtown Banska Bystrica
2. Wide of St. Francis Xavier Cathedral
3. Various of Sunday mass at St. Francis Xavier Cathedral, faithful participating
4. Candles
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Pavel Bachleda, lawyer and churchgoer:
"I wish him well and I wish him a soon recovery. I think our doctors are doing a great job, and I hope very much that the prime minister will also learn the lesson from this terrible incident because I would say partly also his actions in the previous months and years have brought about the situation in our country and the tension about the - among the people in our country, which doesn't make me happy and which doesn't make anyone happy. So we definitely need, need a certain release of emotions here in this country - also from the part of the current government."
6. Various of Sunday mass at St. Francis Xavier Cathedral, faithful participating
7. Painting on wall of church
8. Various of Sunday mass
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Pavel Bachleda, lawyer and churchgoer:
"Unfortunately, this country was governed by, partly by persons who, in my opinion, did not have proper training and experience to handle this very difficult job. And Mr. Fico, I think used this situation. I hate to say that but he used the situation and he also in a way, misused it as he started stirring the tensions and the emotions of people who were not agreeing with the policy of the previous government."
10. Various of faithful participating on Sunday mass at St. Francis Xavier Cathedral
11. People leaving the building
STORYLINE:
Churchgoers in Banská Bystrica reflected on Sunday on the assassination attempt on Slovakia’s populist prime minister, Robert Fico.
At the St. Francis Xavier Cathedral in Banská Bystrica on Sunday, churchgoer and lawyer Pavel Bachleda called the assassination attempt "a great tragedy" but also expressed concerns about how Fico and his Smer, or Direction, party has conducted itself in recent years.
"I would say partly also his actions in the previous months and years have brought about the situation in our country and the tension... among the people," he told The Associated Press.
Fico said last month on Facebook that he believed rising tensions in the country could lead to the killing of politicians, and he blamed the media for fueling tensions in the country of 5.4 million.
Fico remained in serious condition on Sunday but has been given a positive prognosis four days after he was shot multiple times in an assassination attempt that has sent shockwaves across the deeply polarized European Union nation, the defense minister said.
"The worst of what we feared has passed, at least for the moment. But his condition remains serious," Robert Kalinak told reporters outside the hospital where Fico is being treated.
Kalinak added that the hospital treating the Slovak leader in Banská Bystrica, a former coal mining town of 16,000 situated 29 kilometers (17 miles) from where Fico was attacked, will continue to issue updates on his health status.
Fico’s government has made efforts to overhaul public broadcasting - a move critics said would give the government full control of public television and radio.
That, along with his plans to amend the penal code to eliminate a special anti-graft prosecutor, have led opponents to worry that Fico will lead Slovakia down a more autocratic path.
AP video shot by Lefteris Pitarakis
Production: Stanislav Hodina
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