The covers and editorials from leading weeklies of the Left and Right for the work-week ending Friday, 3 July 2020. All our stories about coronavirus and Slovenia are here

Mladina: Truth Behind PPE Scandal House Raids

STA, 3 July 202 - The left-wing magazine Mladina writes in the latest editorial that the reaction to the house raids in the investigation of ventilator procurement were so strong because the deal that is being investigated is not Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek's but rather of the ruling Democratic Party (SDS).

Under the headline SDS's Deal, editor-in-chief Grega Repovž writes that Počivalšek was not surprised when crime investigators called on him.

"He was ready, he knew they were coming, at least a day earlier he had been notified of their coming one way or another by Aleš Hojs, the outgoing interior minister, or Anton Travner, now former police commissioner, if not through intermediaries by someone higher up."

Repovž says that Hojs tried to cover up his forewarning to those involved by having the info aired by Nova24, "the party TV".

However, he also says that Hojs may have learnt about the timing of the house searches beforehand, he had "obviously not known for months about the ongoing investigation", which Repovž surmises based on the assumption that the police have collected enough evidence for search and detention warrants.

Repovž describes Počivalšek as an ambitious person who enjoys having privileges and power, something that he says Prime Minister Janez Janša recognised and humoured him by awarding him security guards and the title of deputy prime minister.

"He is not hiding that after the ministerial stint he would like to control the Slovenian tourism - adapting the law that would make that possible for him in plain sight (...) He would like to be a king of Slovenian tourism just like Zoran Janković passed as retail master until he was replaced by the first Janša government."

Repovž allows for the possibility that Počivalšek, who agreed with Janša that medical purchases would be conducted through intermediaries, did not know the point was to allow the intermediaries to make money.

"He may have been set up - just like under the first Janša government the procurement of Patria APCs was planted on Karl Erjavec, who likewise enjoyed immensely being defence minister and having the power, bragging about the purchase of that amazing equipment until it turned out Janša's closest aides struck the deal behind his back with the intention of obtaining commissions."

Judging by what those involved say, including the whistleblower Ivan Gale, Repovž says that Počivalšek soon realised what had been going on, considering he told Gale that the ventilators ordered through GenePlanet were "the SDS's deal".

Even though Počivalšek did not gain directly from the deal, Repovež notes that it is still crime if you made a deal possible knowing you would get some indirect benefit such as the government taking decisions to your benefit.

Repovž agrees that the subject of investigation is the SDS's deal, hence such a strong reaction from the SDS leader and PM Janša, his "ire with Hojs and Travner so immense he sacked them on the spot".

"Crime investigators have an easy job: they are dealing with people who do not find anything wrong or unusual about what they were doing, rather they believe that by gaining power that belongs to them as well. However, Počivalšek has the same problem."

Demokracija: People will not tolerate anarchists much longer

STA, 2 July 2020 - In its latest commentary headlined White Lives Matter, Too!, the right-wing weekly Demokracija says that not only in the US, but in Slovenia too, the self-proclaimed "anti-racists" have completely lost their compass, but adds that people will not be tolerating this for much longer.

"The well-known left-wing mafia of extremists has gone diabolically after the slogan of the Slovenian fashion magazine Gloss that says 'All Lives Matter' under a picture of black model Olivia Sang", the right-leaning weekly adds.

According to editor-in-chief Jože Biščak, this was enough for them to completely lose their minds. "This may mean that they will, just like they modified the freedom of expression, change the understanding of another human freedom, that is that a human life is untouchable."

All Lives Matter means exactly that - every life is important (including lives of white people), while the Black Lives Matter slogan puts black people in a privileged position, he adds.

Biščak notes that the latest cover of Demokracija features an adaptation of a scene from the video by African-American rapper XXXTentacion in which a black boy observes a white boy being hanged.

The artist faced only lenient criticism at the time, while the editor believes that Demokracija will be accused of racism.

"I get sick, my stomach turns every time I hear such accusations. It is all our fault, us conservatives and Christians from the right. We are good for the leftists only until we are cornered and we play the game of the second-rate ones while their orchestra plays.

"Once the music stops, they go berserk, they all of a sudden recognise only one law, the law of the street. The more rampaging and destruction, the better. And them hitting the streets, it is again our fault."

According to Biščak, it should be clear to anybody with the right mind that people from the left want to "turn the homeland into an infernal hole", but people will not tolerate this behaviour of "spoiled anarchists" for much longer.

All our posts in this series are here

STA, 3 July 2020 - Police security was beefed in the centre of Ljubljana on Friday as the anti-government protests held every week in the Slovenian capital were joined by a smaller counter-protest of government supporters.

Taking to the streets for the 11th consecutive Friday, hundreds of demonstrators remounted their bicycles to voice their opposition to the government, as well as against fascism and nationalism.

Even before the protest, a smaller group of a few dozen government supporters clad in yellow vests gathered in Prešeren Square carrying banners saying Anarchists and Left Fascists and Antifa=Terror, as well as a picture of a swastika and the red star with the equals sign between them.

Zbor podpornikov vlade na Prešernovem trgu: pic.twitter.com/ygBZOOhtPd

— Delo (@Delo) July 3, 2020

The group first appeared among the anti-government crowd at the alternative Statehood Day Ceremony held on 24 June shortly before the official state ceremony, announcing they would stage counter protests for each anti-government rally.

They told the media their intention was to "prevent a coup", thwart attempts to "bring down the government by means of show trials", and prevent "falling back in totalitarianism".

The yellow vests also moved to the square in front of the parliament building and then filed past the headquarters of RTV Slovenija, criticising the public broadcaster and calling for it to be scrapped.

The yellow vests' rally had been "condemned in the strongest terms" by almost 100 organisations and initiatives supporting the anti-government protests.

In a press release issued before the events, they said the yellow vests were in fact members of neo-Nazi groups, their links to the ruling Democratic Party (SDS) being "well documented, their discourse virtually identical to the discourse of the political".

They argued that "neo-Nazi gangs have come to the defence of the ruling coalition with the intention to provoke and escalate" the situation.

Concern was raised after pictures emerged from the 24 June protest showing one of the yellow vests performing a Nazi salute, and online posts saying several yellow vests were Blood&Honour members.

The police tightened security, telling the STA beforehand they had zero tolerance of all forms of displays of hatred, intolerance or violence and were taking action targeting deviant conduct.

Despite some tension, the protests passed off without a major confrontation, as did a similar protest and counter-protest in Maribor, Slovenia's second city.

Already in the morning, some of the anti-government protesters had been received by President Borut Pahor for what his office said was an "exchange of opinions and views, which differed on some points".

Pahor appealed for dialogue, which he said should be sought even when it appeared to have been exhausted.

One of the protesters who took part in the meeting, Tjaša Prošek told the STA that they had posed concrete questions but failed to get any answers. Pahor would also not respond to their invitation to address the crowed rallying every Friday.

Množica, ki se pomika proti DZ-ju vzklika "lopovi" #petkovprotest #izbalkonovnakolesa pic.twitter.com/ruvOlEavWk

— Gorazd Kosmač (@kosmacg) May 29, 2020

Part of protesters and some of the groups involved said the protesters who attended the meeting with Pahor did not represent them.

"Those representatives certainly do not represent the whole protest movement. We hope their response has to do solely with political naivety and adventurism," several groups said in a press release.

All our stories on protests in Slovenia

STA, 2 July 2020 - PM Janez Janša has sent a letter to State Prosecutor General Drago Šketa, saying the prosecution is neglecting its legal role in relation to the anti-government protests for failing to respond to inciting to violence. The letter in which he also says Šketa will be responsible if the violence escalates has been met with strong criticism.

Janša published the letter dated 19 June in full on Twitter today after the newspaper Dnevnik ran an article about it. Janša tweeted he had decided to publish the letter "because the unofficial Official Gazette of the deep state (globoka država), Dnevnik.si, published insinuations" about the letter.

Ker je neuradni Uradni list #Globokadržava @Dnevnik_si objavil insinuacije o mojem pismu Generalnemu državnemu tožilcu glede organiziranih grožnjah s smrtjo, ki jih omogoča in posredno vzpodbuja ljubljansko tožilstvo, si lahko v nadaljevanju preberete celoten dopis. pic.twitter.com/dHQdJVThTZ

— Janez Janša (@JJansaSDS) July 2, 2020

In the letter, the prime minister says that "we have been witnessing stepping up of organised death threats" in recent months and that the prosecution was passively observing this despite the clear restrictions that the Constitution and the Penal Code impose on such behaviour. Janša says that in some cases the prosecution indirectly even encourages such behaviour.

"You will be directly responsible for any potential victims of the organised threats," Janša wrote Šketa, referring to slogans and banners reading "Death to Janšism".

He also says that members of different extremist organisations from neighbouring and other countries, which are known for the use of street violence and other types of violence, are taking part in the protests held on Fridays, calling for a violent bringing down of the existing constitutional order. "And the state prosecution is silent like a fish in the tank."

Janša notes that slogans such as Juden Raus or Death to Fascism have in the past led to the killings of first individuals and then to genocide and crimes against humanity.

The prime minister sees the events at the anti-government protests as "organised death threats to an entire democratic political bloc", and calls on Šketa to act before it is too late.

Šketa responded to the letter today by asserting that the prosecution was efficient and acting in line with the Constitution and law.

He said that he had been noticing a growing amount of intolerance and hostility in the public discourse for years. Noting that he never gave any guidelines or instructions to prosecutors, who must be fully independent in their work, Šketa said that reports on the work of the prosecution showed that prosecutors decided to act against inciting to violence or hostility only when they detect legally-set signs of a criminal act or offence.

According to Dnevnik, the State Prosecutorial Council discussed the letter on Monday and is expected to publicly respond to it next week.

A much stronger reaction meanwhile came from former State Prosecutor General Zvonko Fišer, who told Dnevnik that he had not witnessed such a move in his entire career as prosecutor, not even in Yugoslavia.

He finds this kind of pressure completely inappropriate and inadmissible.

Heavy criticism also came from the head of the opposition Social Democrats (SD), Tanja Fajon, who said the letter was "very inappropriate, presumptuous and unacceptable".

She sees it is yet another attack on independent institutions and a severe encroachment upon another branch of power, which is why the party plans to initiate an impeachment motion against the PM.

At least ten MPs can initiate the impeachment, so SD MPs alone could do it. Fajon said the party had not discussed the move with other opposition parties yet.

The Justice Ministry told Dnevnik that the law enforcement was in charge of passing judgements on individual actions and was completely independent and that the law enforcement must be allowed to do its job professionally. If it fails to do so, certain surveillance mechanisms are available.

This was echoed by Justice Minister Lilijana Kozlovič before today's government session. Asked whether she sees Janša's letter as a form of pressure on an independent branch of power, she said this was the PM's decision, which was why she would not comment.

She noted though that any kind of intolerance or hostility must be processed as part of a criminal or minor offence proceedings because too much of that was happening.

Asked to comment on the statements by the outgoing interior minister, Aleš Hojs, that the National Bureau of Investigation and the crime police were full of staff linked to the firmer Communist secret service UDBA and the Communist Party, Kozlovič said she had no such information.

The Office of President Borut Pahor, which also received a copy of the letter, said that the prosecution must be independent in its work.

Our stories on the protests in Slovenia

STA, 26 June 2020 - Anti-government protesters took to the streets of Ljubljana on Friday evening in what have become traditional Friday rallies. They packed Prešeren Square where they protested over police erecting fences and put chains around the monument of Slovenian leading poet France Prešeren in a symbolic move to warn about the cultural crisis.

Several thousand then toured the capital, but kept away from Republic Square even though the venue, otherwise a popular place for assemblies and rallies, was not fenced off this evening as it was previous Friday, a government decision that has raised a lot of dust.

Protestniški sprevod ob vzklikanju lopovi nadaljuje po Cankarjevi cesti. #ljubljana #protest @rtvslo pic.twitter.com/IqCWMCZFnQ

— jasa.rajsek (@JRajsek) June 26, 2020

They protested over the police putting up fences in the capital, a city that has a collective memory of the Fascists fencing it off entirely with a barbed wire to suppress any resistance movement during the Second World War.

On Wednesday, on the eve of Statehood Day, fences were erected across the centre of Ljubljana to fence off the official state ceremony.

Moreover, apart from last Friday when Republic Square was completely fenced off, during a few previous Friday anti-government rallies, the square was partly closed off.

The protesters see all that as the police encroaching upon their right to assembly. Their posters and banners as well as speeches said that no fence would stop them.

On their route, they passed the Presidential Palace, most on foot, some also on bicycles, with many voicing their disapproval of President Borut Pahor.

They walked around an occupied Ljubljana, as they said, and wrapped up the rally in Congress Square where the state ceremony was held and in nearby Zvezda Park, holding up posters proclaiming it Republic Square.

"Every Friday when thousands of people take to the streets, peacefully, in a dignified manner, we win. They tried to fence us off and restrict assembling. They failed and they will fail," said theatre director Jaša Jenull, one of the informal organisers of the Friday rallies.

Putting Prešeren symbolically in chains was a warning about the cultural crisis in the wake of the coronavirus crisis, but also a protest gesture over restricting assembling.

YELLOW VESTS

Furthermore, the spot around the monument was the place where pro-government protesters in yellow vests gathered to oppose the Statehood Day alternative ceremony on Wednesday evening. There was some tension and banners saying Anarchists are Left-Wing Fascists were displayed by a few dozens in yellow vests.

Some 7,000 people gathered in the heart of Ljubljana to protest against the government on that day, according to police estimates.

Today, prior to the rally, a group of protesters also stopped by the opposition Social Democrats (SD) headquarters where they expressed their opposition to the entire political aisle, saying they had enough of "the left, the right and the quasi-centre politicians who are not working for the good of the nation", read social media posts.

Meanwhile, the number of police officers monitoring the protest seemed to be lower this Friday. The Ljubljana Police Administration told the STA that it could not disclose the exact figure, citing tactical reasons.

The police warned the protesters about anti-Covid-19 restrictions and notified the relevant authorities of any violations today as it had been doing during the previous Friday rallies, it added.

Apart from Ljubljana, anti-government protests were also held in a number of other Slovenian cities, including Maribor and Celje.

In Maribor, Ivan Gale, the whistleblower from the Agency for Commodity Reserves who alleged wrongdoing in the purchases of masks and further sparked the rallies, addressed the protesters.

Žalosten trg. #ljubljana pic.twitter.com/q2rpNMA2fE

— Pia Lešnik (@Plesni1) June 26, 2020

STA, 24 June 2020 - Several thousand people packed Prešeren Square in the heart of Ljubljana to state their opposition to the policies of the Janez Janša government on the eve of Statehood Day just a couple of hours before the official state ceremony on the occasion was due to begin in Congress Square, a stone's throw away.

The event was being monitored closely by police and there was some tension as a few dozen counter-protesters in yellow vests arrived in the square, carrying banners saying Anarchists are Left Fascists.

#snowflakes pic.twitter.com/lBVxO9BdMj

— ? stariha (@starihalj) June 24, 2020

The smaller group lined up in front of the monument to poet France Prešeren in the centre of the square, inviting boos and shouts "troublemakers" from the crowd turning up for the alternative ceremony, with the programme continuing from the stairs leading up to the church on the opposite side of the square.

The programme featured a women's choir signing The Internationale, the left-wing anthem, and speeches calling for a better world and against fascism, exclusions and restrictions on NGOs.

Those taking to the stage included culture workers, who called for a boycott of the state ceremony, arguing that the Slovenian population's referendum decision to break away from Yugoslavia had been abused to restore outdated capitalism, plunder social property, erase a part of the population and establish a political class of untouchables and their sidekicks.

Danes je praznik države. pic.twitter.com/0Z2z4yGT5L

— Jure Trampuš (@juretrampus) June 24, 2020

The group organising today's alternative ceremony had been holding weekly protests in front of the Ministry of Culture over what it said was the ministry's lack of response to the crisis in the culture sector.

The group, much like protesters that have been turning up for demonstrations on bicycles or on foot for several Fridays, also criticised "desire for absolute power", insults and exclusion which they attributed to the current government and in particular PM Janša.

The event was also addressed by young climate activists and other environmental activists. It was attended by artists, writers, performers and some opposition politicians, including former Prime Minister Marjan Šarec, who told reporters he came to support people who turned up because they loved their country but disagreed with the government's actions.

Among those present was also Ivan Gale, the whistleblower from the Agency for Commodity Reserves who alleged wrongdoing in the purchases of masks, and a flag carrying member of the association fostering the heritage of the Partisan WWII resistance.

Flag-bearers had been barred from the state ceremony, ostensibly because of the coronavirus, which is why those turned up for a ceremony in Trzin, which was addressed by Ladislav Lipič, the head of the association of the 1991 war of Slovenian veterans.

The participants in the alternative Ljubljana ceremony later walked to the Presidential Palace and government headquarters, where they laid flowers and lit candles in tribute of the erased, before ending the protest in the French Revolution Square.

Jemljem nazaj izjavo, da mora vsak politik na proslavo. Ne! Vsak pošten politik jo mora bojkotirat. Kongresni trg je z vseh strani zablokiran. Dostop samo z vabilom. Ves levi breg je zablokiran. Vsi mostovi. Naj kar imajo to svojo proslavo. Ne me jebat, no. Čez Šuštarski most … pic.twitter.com/Sy5yxUE2Bb

— Marko Crnkovič (@crnkovic) June 24, 2020

This Shouldn't Happen#police #corruptgovernment #unnecessary #repression #exaggeration #nonsense #stupidity #noreason #streetphotography #street #bridge #Ljubljana #Slovenia #EU #europe #life #people #freedom #nofreedom #sadness #ThisIsSlovenia #oldtownhttps://t.co/zWbYE9b5by pic.twitter.com/f8gg8V7pE4

— Matija Nose (@TheMatN) June 24, 2020

Fascist president of #Slovenia @BorutPahor and #corrupt @JJansaSDS just captured centre of Ljubljana to celebrate 29th anniversary of independence. Many streets are locked for citizens. This is how fascism in Europe returns @coe @EU_Commission @EUCouncil @EPP @amnesty @RSF_inter pic.twitter.com/S3Mcw4hqX3

— Blaž Zgaga (@blaz_zgaga) June 24, 2020

The streets around Congress Square where the state ceremony started at shortly after 9pm were cordoned off. Šarec commented that the whole city was being fenced in and that there had been more railings erected every week, criticising police acting against some participants in the weekly Friday protests.

According to Delo, the Slovenian police will add 20 X2 model tasers to its list of active-use equipment starting on July 1^st 2020.  Given the latest incidences of the use of force on the side of the police during peaceful anti-government protests, Mladina magazine wonders whether the adoption of tasers at this time is a government move to target protesters.

The first attempt to introduce tasers occurred under the first Janša’s government, when a two-year trial period was introduced in 2006. The police officers, however, found no need for the use of this equipment and the trial period ended without a single incidence of a taser being used.

In 2017, however, Cerar’s government passed legislation which allows and regulates the use of tasers on the part of the police. According to Mladina, legalization of the use of tasers came as a response to the alleged need to facilitate border protection due to the increased number of illegal crossings. 

Last year 25 Slovenian police officers were trained by the American company Axon, the supplier of the devices, and these 25 instructors then further trained 237 police officers in handling the equipment.  

According to the Police Tasks and Powers Act, tasers are equipped with a camera, which is active at all times. The use of a taser is justifiable when active resistance or an attack is endangering the life of a police officer or anyone else. Tasers can also be used in the prevention of suicides.

The Police Tasks and Powers Act also allows the use of tasers on elderly, children, sickly, disabled and pregnant women in situations which allow for the use of firearms.

STA, 24 June 2020 - Delo says in Wednesday's front-page commentary that the recent ID-ing of individuals police were guessing could attend the parallel ceremony organised by protesters on the occasion of Statehood Day is without precedent in democratic law-governed Slovenia.

The paper starts by dismissing PM Janez Janša's labelling of today's rival ceremony to be organised in Ljubljana's Prešeren Square as indecent and detestable, noting he had organised rival ceremonies several times while he was the opposition leader.

What is more, there are quite a few differences between Janša's alternative ceremonies and the event being organised in Prešeren square. The latter is a citizens' event, not one that would be organised by parliament's political opposition.

There is nothing indecent about people celebrating Statehood Day, it is just a sign they identify with the state, even if they may not agree with the actions of the ruling coalition.

The alternative ceremony has not been officially registered and will cause a violation of the ban on gatherings in excess of 500 people still in place due to Covid-19.

The police responded to the development ahead of time, starting to ID last Friday those handing out flyers for the event, as well as passers-by, the reason being a suspicion they could break the law in the future.

"It is crucial to put the approach of the police in a historical context. Since the onset of democratic legal order, the police has never dealt with potential illegal actions that could happen in the future. The police is too serious an institution to be delving in fortune telling. The holiday will happen. If you will be celebrating it together with fellow citizens, wear a mask," Delo says in the commentary Celebrating with a Mask (Praznovanje z masko).

STA, 23 June 220 - The ceremony planned for the eve of Statehood Day (Dan državnosti)on Wednesday has once again proved divisive. After World War II veteran organisations had been excluded from preparations and included again upon an intervention by the president, an alternative event is being planned near the site of the official ceremony by artists critical of the prime minister.

On Monday, a group of artists who have been protesting in front of the Culture Ministry against its failure to help the sector in the face of the coronavirus epidemic, called for a boycott of the official state ceremony planned for Wednesday evening in Congress Square.

The group will organise its own event two hours earlier at the nearby Prešeren Square. It said in a press release last night that "the Republic of Slovenia has abused the plebiscite decision of its people to leave Yugoslavia for restoring outdated capitalism, plundering common property, erasing part of the population and for establishing the untouchable political class and its servants".

Albeit not naming him, they criticised Janša as being "the great leader" and "Independence Man" who is interested in nothing but power, accusing him of revising history, managing the present to his own liking and predicting a catastrophic future, offending and excluding, and persecuting those who think differently.

Responding to the call for boycott, Janša told the broadcaster Nova24TV last night that "calling for an anti-ceremony on Statehood Day was indecent, perverse and beyond anything the words 'normal' and 'civilisation' mean to us. I hope its organisers change their mind by Wednesday."

When Janša was still in the opposition, he often skipped official state ceremonies to attend the ones organised associations affiliated with his Democrats (SDS), including the Association for the Values of Slovenian Independence.

The boycott call was however not the only difficulty this time. Weeks ago, the government dismissed from the organising committee the representatives of the veteran associations, replacing them with representatives of the Association for the Values of Slovenian Independence, which is chaired by Interior Minister Aleš Hojs and where Janša is one of the presidency members.

The representatives of the other veteran associations were later included in the committee, following an intervention by President Borut Pahor.

Today, MEP and opposition Social Democrats (SD) leader Tanja Fajon addressed a letter to both Janša and Pahor, calling for an inclusive ceremony.

Fajon, who said she will attend tomorrow's official ceremony, believes that the pair must allow the nation to celebrate together by "including everybody, especially all veteran organisations, and above all with sincere regret of the deep division in society and reasons therefore".

Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Marjan Šarec, head of the biggest opposition party LMŠ, said he would not attend the official ceremony, arguing attendance would give the government "legitimacy".

Commenting on the ceremony planned by the artists, Šarec said it would be a celebration by the people. He said he would attend his local Statehood Day ceremony in the town of Kamnik.

STA, 19 June 2020 - Anti-government protesters again took to the streets across Slovenia Friday evening. In Ljubljana, some of the protesters entered the square outside the Parliament House which had been completely fenced off, to read the Constitution. After refusing to move, they were physically removed by the riot police.

While the Republic Square served as the centre for rallies in the previous weeks, today it was completely fenced off by the police and most of the protesters gathered in Prešeren Square instead for the start of the rally at 7 pm, before eventually starting to move toward the Parliament House.

The several thousand people carried banners and whistles, as has become customary. Moreover, a number of protesters dressed black today, after Prime Minister Janez Janša referred to blackshirts in his comment of the protests.

Trg republike je javni prostor in ni last te vlade!

Toliko “robocopov” kot jih je bilo danes na ograjenem trgu, do sedaj se ni bilo ...

Ocitno je vlada upala, da pride do nasilja, da nas bodo lahko mlatili ...

Pa so se usteli! In potem so “robocopi” hodili sem ter tja pic.twitter.com/9MWArKzUuP

— Roni Kordiš (@had) June 19, 2020

Pritestniki so pravkar krenili na "pohod po okupirani Ljubljani". #zbalkonovnakolesa pic.twitter.com/9LRznNpt1m

— Gorazd Kosmač (@kosmacg) June 19, 2020

U Sloveniji građani osmi dan prosvjeduju protiv prevratničke Janšine vlade. Zbog 'Smrt Janšizmu' policija podnosi kaznenu prijavu. Ovako će izgledati Hrvatske pod HDZ-om i Škoronom ako im i 5.7. ne pokažemo srednji prst. pic.twitter.com/uRjo42a8bN

— Marko Jurčić (@markojurci) June 19, 2020

Glasno pa tolk, da sem koncertne čepke dala v ušesa. pic.twitter.com/IUkzaCaPbi

— A (@_aney) June 19, 2020

Among the few dozen who read the Constitution in Republic Square were several artists, including author and comedian Andrej Rozman Roza. After some refused to leave the square after being ordered to do so, they were carried off.

The complete closure of the square raised dust among protesters, with the Ljubljana Police Administration telling the STA that the step had been taken in order to protect the Parliament House, to uphold public peace and order, prevent criminal acts from taking place and ensure road safety, as well as to uphold the ban on gathering of more than 500 people.

"When providing for security, we always take into account the known circumstances and information acquired about the protests. Because today's rally has not been reported and has no known organiser, who is... bound to ensure safety of the participants, security was adjusted," the police said of the closed-off square.

Just a few hours ahead of the weekly anti-government protest which occur every Friday evening in Ljubljana, the police decided to push the fence surrounding the Parliament building towards Cankarjev Dom, preventing the expected thousands of protesters from accessing their usual venue.

Danes dostop na TR3 prepovedan. pic.twitter.com/hQzEHYOB1D

— Borut Mekina (@borutmekina) June 19, 2020

At the time of writing some protesters had already gathered inside the fence for a group reading of the Slovenian constitution, which grants people freedom of gathering and expression.