The covers and editorials from leading weeklies of the Left and Right for the work-week ending Friday, 08 May 2020. All our stories about coronavirus and Slovenia are here

Mladina: Uprising is coming

STA, 8 May 2020 - The left-wing weekly Mladina says in Friday's editorial that there is mounting evidence a strong resistance movement against the current government is taking shape in Slovenia.

This is why Prime Minister Janez Janša is in a hurry - he would like to intervene in all structures of this country that he finds disturbing before the situation returns to normal, at least partly, says editor-in-chief Grega Repovž.

He knows that although a majority of Slovenians are horrified by the moves of his government they are handicapped now and unable to respond the way a mature, democratic society would.

"What we are witnessing is not normal assumption of power, which includes staffing changes, but bullying of society and the state administration."

But those in power cannot deny that last Friday, despite fears about coronavirus, thousands of cyclists took to the streets of Slovenian towns. In Ljubljana alone police counted 3,500 of them.

A Facebook group expressing support to whistleblower Ivan Gale has 70,000 followers. "People who were passive not long ago have started showing active interest in the media, which is shown in the ratings of political shows and a rise in the visits of websites that the public perceives as independent.

"That a network of resistance is being formed in Slovenia can be felt at every step," Repovž says.

Cyclists merely presage what is yet to come. Trade unions too are on the verge of rebellion, including because the government has completely frozen social dialogue.

In serious European countries (and companies) the opposite is happening: whoever wants the economy to recover knows this is the time to make a pact with trade unions.

And when it becomes clear that some government measures that are to help companies will have no real effect, the business elite will also turn against the government.

"The situation is going to get very serious soon. Since we are at the beginning of a crisis, this is very bad. Now we would need a government that would know how to create a sense of stability and security," Repovž says under the headline Outlines of Rebellion.

Demokracija: RTV Slovenija & Soros

STA, 7 May 2020 - The right-wing weekly Demokracija argues in its latest commentary that mainstream media criticism and protests against the government in Slovenia reflect a confrontation between conservative liberalism and the George Soros-sponsored liberal democracy, which is on its way out.

Jože Biščak, the editor-in-chief, notes how conservative parties in the Visegrad Group countries, including Viktor Orban's Fidezs, have turned away from liberalism as championed by Soros through his sponsorship of NGOs that supported liberal democracy parties in Eastern Europe in the 1990s.

He says that as a result of their eschewing progressivism/cultural Marxism, the parties, including the ruling Democrats (SDS) in Slovenia, are being targeted by liberal democrats today because they are mostly against accepting migrants, LGBT agenda, feminism, gender theory and life deniers.

"The enforcement of mixing and creation of chaos without a clearly defined future had been met with revolt among the healthy core of Europe's indigenous population (...) by the time of the great migration wave of 2015.

"It appears Covid-19 will accelerate its demise as in isolation people are again searching for their roots, identifying themselves with national culture and their nation, are looking for the lost faith in God. Hence panic everywhere.

"A textbook example is RTV Slovenija, which is no longer hiding its political and ideological bias, and its journalists Mojca Pašek Šetinc, Jelena Aščić and Eugenija Carl are typical representatives of the 'new order', stirring fear of the alleged dictatorship of 'not-our' government they cannot influence any longer.

"The government is good as long as it is headed by people with 'right', their ideas. Once it is not, the 'civil' sphere, educated in the spirit of Soros's tradition, gets activated, relying on the leftist logic of scaremongering. Violent street protests follow that seek to topple a legitimate government."

However, in conclusion of the piece whose headline carries the same message Biščak says that liberal democracy has already been put on a ventilator, "the one that has recently been making the far-fetched story of the media mainstream".

All our posts in this series are here

STA, 8 May 2020 - Thousands of protesters on bicycles took to the streets of Ljubljana, Marbor, Celje, Koper and elsewhere to peacefully protest against the government limiting civil liberties during the coronavirus epidemic, while the ban on public assembly is still in place. The Ljubljana rally was by far the biggest, bringing together some 5,500 by police count. 

Run under the slogan You Won't Take Our Freedom, the protests were a joint effort of various civil initiatives, which had however called on protesters to respect all the measures to protect public health.

The protesters gathered opposite the National Assembly in Ljubljana's Republic Square, which was cordoned off so that the protesters - some media reports put the figure at 10,000 - could not approach the Parliament House.

They later took a ride past several state institutions in the city, and were cheered by locals clapping their hands from nearby windows.

The police said the Parliament House was cordoned off for safety. The police used megaphones to warn the protesters to respect the rules and that video surveillance was used. They also monitored the area from a helicopter.

Some protesters carried banners critical of the government and of President Borut Pahor, most their bicycle bells and some used cow bells.

Support was also expressed for Agency for Commodity Reserves employee Ivan Gale, who has recently publicly spoken about the pressure on the agency during the purchase of personal protective equipment.

Ploskali pred @ukclj in @RTV_Slovenija. Več kot nas bo, prej bomo na cilju. pic.twitter.com/esOry0RryQ

— Jedrt Jež Furlan (@JedrtJF) May 8, 2020

Zvonenje, ploskanje in občasno usklajeno vzklikanje vzdolž Slovenske ceste. Na skirojih in kolesih, pod budnim helikoptrskim nadzorom / @vecer pic.twitter.com/L3F9KlRYV0

— Žana Vertačnik (@ZanaVertacnik) May 8, 2020

Trg SVOBODE pic.twitter.com/Dn2nRRfSD5

— marko brumen (@multikultivator) May 8, 2020

Lepo je to videt. @policija_si ???? pic.twitter.com/rhAnrfwS9Y

— Matej Špehar (@MatejSpehar) May 8, 2020

ene par folka pa je. https://t.co/8GypwxodVD

— jaKa Močnik (@jkmcnk) May 8, 2020

The protesters mostly wore face masks, and shouts "criminals" could be heard. T-shirts with a Wake Up slogan were being sold in nearby Slovenska Street.

The protesters' anti-government sentiment seemed quite clear. "I came here to celebrate Victory Day and I hope we'll also celebrate another victory ... when we topple the government," one protester told the STA's reporter.

Another one said he was sick of the situation in Slovenia, where he believes "a silent coup d'etat is taking place".

Some were more positive, with one saying he wanted to show support for a more positive approach to the situation. "I'm not against, but for better politics, for better conditions, life."

Another protester said he protested against corruption and the leading media outlets, which he accused of bias and questioned the gap between a low Covid-19 death rate and the fact that everything is in lockdown.

Some politicians could also be seen there, including opposition Left head Luka Mesec, whose party was the only one to explicitly support the protest.

Other opposition parties had said the place for politicians to resolve problems was parliament. Trade unionist Branimir Štrukelj was also at the protest.

Much fewer people gathered in Maribor, Koper, Celje, as well as other, smaller towns across the country. Several hundred protesters gathered in Maribor for a protest very similar to the one in Ljubljana.

In Koper, several dozen carried banners saying Government Should Resign, and Criminals to Prison, Freedom to the Nation. The informal anthem of the Primorska region, a WWII anti-Fascist song, could also be heard.

Already last Friday, some 3,500 protesters took to the streets of Ljubljana in a similar protest. The 1 May protest came after a protest series started with protests at home and on balconies.

Meanwhile over 100 signatories of the Forum for Democracy, among them many established university teachers and researchers, also support the protests.

In a public letter they said that "if the people's rule is at stake, the people should claim it back".

The letter noted that their fears from a similar February letter that the Democrat (SDS)-led coalition would take Slovenia toward authoritarianism were coming true.

STA, 1 May 2020 - Several thousand cyclists took to the streets of Ljubljana on Friday evening accusing the government of curtailing civil liberties in what was the latest in a series of protests targeting the government's anti-coronavirus policies.

Cyclists rode past Parliament House and adjacent streets, a form of protest that they see as in compliance with quarantine measures mandating a safe distance between individuals and allowing sports activities such as cycling while banning the gathering of people.

Related: New Details in Slovenia’s Coronavirus Equipment Scandal

Police said an estimated 3,500 people protested, adding that they had not taken any measures but would take action in the event any violations of the law is detected. Aleksandra Golec, spokeswoman for the Ljubljana police, told the STA several streets had been closed for traffic to ensure safety.

Trg republike v Ljubljani je poln in se še polni s sodelujočimi na protestni akciji #zbalkonovnakolesa pic.twitter.com/VZfBA1pzhV

— Večer (@vecer) May 1, 2020

Živel 1. maj! Dovolj ustrahovanja, sovraštva, laži in KRAJE! ✊ pic.twitter.com/4ifDktz3Qa

— Brez strahu (@BrezStrahu) May 1, 2020

The rally was organised by twenty-odd self-organised groups and civil society organisations on Facebook as the latest incarnation of a protest series that started with protests at home and on balconies. They dubbed the protest "from balconies to bicycles" [#zbalkonovnakolesa].

"This year's Labour Day marks the start of a new wave of economic and social crisis that is the consequence of the fight against the global coronavirus pandemic.

"The response of this government, as well as all previous and future governments, consists of predictable budget cuts, belt-tightening, plundering of people so that banks may survive, destruction of the environment for the benefit of the few, repression, populism," their Facebook post reads.

Similar although smaller protests were held in several other cities. In Maribor, the second largest city in the country, there were up to 200 cyclists, according the Maribor-based daily Večer.

A much smaller rally was organised earlier in the day by a Facebook group that promotes 5G and coronavirus conspiracy theories. The protest was not permitted and the organiser, Ladislav Troha, was apprehended and several participants will be fined.

The covers and editorials from leading weeklies of the Left and Right for the work-week ending Friday, 1 May 2020. All our stories about coronavirus and Slovenia are here

Mladina: Hatred will trigger more protests

STA, 30 April 2020 - The left-wing weekly Mladina says in its latest editorial entitled Right to Protest that Prime Minister Janez Janša's opposition to protests is ironic and that open hatred will not stop protests, it will multiply them.

It is understandable that Janša finds protests upsetting and disturbing, editor-in-chief Grega Repovž says in reference to Monday's protests against the government held in several cities.

"It is ironic that a man whose freedom as well as political career largely stem from protests whose main initiator (together with radio station Radio Študent) was this magazine detests protests so very much," says Repovž.

Janša's Democrats (SDS) have been among the most active organisers of protests for the last thirty years. Some of them were very questionable, for example those held in front of the courthouse in Ljubljana, but nobody attempted to stop them, he notes.

It is also ironic that the Slovenian Social Democratic Union (SDZS), which Janša later turned into the populist and extreme SDS, was founded by France Tomšič, the man who organised the first trade unions' protests in socialist Slovenia. Moreover, the SDZS emerged from those protests.

And now this party stood against the protesters in the Ljubljana city centre on Monday by sending police and its "violent interior minister" against them. Only the protesters expressing political views were fined.

According to Repovž, the government is trying to scare people because in March 2013 Janša and the SDS were swept away from power by all-Slovenian protests, a massive nation-wide uprising.

Janša's fear is justified and his "police minister" Aleš Hojs is nervous only because now they have no legitimate let alone legal basis to act against the protesters. "But they don't know any other way. They hate and despise openly, and do not hold back even in public anymore."

But if they did not despise and would try to understand, they would realise that such actions will not stop protesters. "One political graffiti erased means a hundred new ones. And the same goes for protests," Repovž says.

"We have actually already reached the point when the NSi, SMC and DeSUS will quickly have to start thinking about the direction that the SDS is taking Slovenia. SDS ministers have crossed several thin lines in the past weeks ... And they were able to cross them only because they are holding these three parties hostage."

Repovž says that it has now become irrelevant that the parties themselves are also to be blamed for this. The only question now is when they realise that some processes are becoming irreversible, he says.

Demokracija: "Mainstream media" reporting on govt

STA, 30 April 2020 - The right-wing weekly paper Demokracija praises in its latest editorial the government's efforts in combating the coronavirus epidemic and adds that while "even foreign governments and media praise the determined attitude of the Slovenian government, Slovenian media rarely praise the right-oriented government".

Demokracija's editor-in-chief Jože Biščak takes issue with last week's Tarča current affairs on TV Slovenija, which also featured Ivan Gale from the Commodities Reserves Agency talking about political meddling in the procurement of personal protective equipment.

Biščak says a time when people are dying "is no time for the kind of political and ideological games that [opposition leaders] Marjan Šarec and Dejan Židan were orchestrating together with the journalists of the national broadcaster in Tarča".

He argues it is strange but not surprising that RTV Slovenija is "reserving its prime time to split hairs and not to protect people".

Biščak adds that this goes beyond the national broadcaster, since the "entire media mainstream...is literary competing in the creation of scandals and chaos from thin air".

"The poorer that Slovenia fares and the sooner this government slips, irrespective of the cost, the better for them - the searchers of the golden fleece," Biščak says in the commentary entitled The Searchers of the Golden Fleece.

All our posts in this series are here

STA, 28 April 2020 - A day after low-scale anti-government and anti-lockdown rallies were held across the country, Interior Minister Aleš Hojs has expressed expectation police would follow his "guidelines" about tracking down the protesters through social media. The police meanwhile highlighted its autonomy and independence.

Hojs tweeted on Monday that the police had ID'd a number of people at the rallies in Ljubljana and Maribor, who will be fined. He said the police will also press charges against protest "organisers and participants, because this is a criminal act of endangering health".

Pricakujem,da bo @policija_si za identifikacijo vseh tistih,ki jih je,kot udelezence petkovih in danasnjih shodov,potrebno kazensko ovaditi,uporabila vse javno objavljene slike in prispevke medijev oz. socialnih omrežij!Večina drzavljanov skrbi za zdravje vseh in upošteva odloke!

— Aleš Hojs (@aleshojs) April 27, 2020

In a second tweet, he said he expected the police to use "all publicly posted photos and media reports or social media" to identify the participants of rallies held yesterday and on Friday "against whom criminal charges must be pressed".

Today, Hojs told Slovenian correspondents in Brussels that the government decree clearly banned gathering and movement in public places due to the epidemic. He said he could not agree with the protesters removing the police tape placed in a public place.

He was referring to a group of protesters accessing Republic Square in Ljubljana by removing a segment of the police tape.

"I also don't accept that the interior minister is a silent observer of police actions. It's fact that the interior minister is the one giving guidelines to the police."

He also clarified what he meant by photo identification of the participants, remembering how he, Defence Minister Matej Tonin and President Borut Pahor had been criticised for ignoring social distancing rules during a recent visit to a border area. He believes that same rules should apply to everybody.

If the editor-in-chief of the left-leaning weekly Mladina, Grega Repovž, can be recognised in the photos, as well as a number of other persons, than they have to be processed accordingly, Hojs said. "I don't see a problem with that. Rules apply to everybody."

Releasing details about yesterday's protests, the General Police Department said in a press release that the police "is autonomous in handling these kinds of events, follows legislative and professional guidelines, and handles cases individually".

"It does not rely upon public opinion or possible opinions of persons from the public and political arenas. It coordinates the prosecution of criminal acts with the prosecution, while in terms of violations, the relevant bodies are autonomous and independent also within the organisational hierarchy."

The police also said that it had not suspected anybody committing the criminal act of spreading disease since the outbreak of the epidemic. The police also said it detected no such suspicion at the rallies yesterday.

It said that it referred 26 people from yesterday's rallies to the Health Inspectorate, the relevant body issuing fees in health violations. It also said that procedures were still ongoing.

The Mladina editor-in-chief meanwhile responded to Hojs's statement about his presence at the protest, saying that "just like about 20 other journalists, photographers and cameramen, I went to the site of the rally".

He said he had met with the magazine's photographer and exchanged a few sentences with police officers, both with respect of the distance prescribed by the government decree. "In other words, I was doing my job as a journalist."

He added that the decree restricting movement and gathering in public places included exceptions such as going to and coming from work and doing one's work. He expressed hope that Hojs's statement was "merely an aggravated, populist statement and not an actual threat by a minister with repressive actions".

The Information Commissioner's Office also responded to Hojs's tweets, saying that they indicate that the minister perceives all protesters as potential perpetrators of criminal acts and not of violations.

"In a democratic society, this can be a serious reason for concern about human rights infringements," the office said, adding that the police has the power to take photographs and process these automatically only for the purpose of criminal prosecution.

The Information Commissioner's Office wondered whether these cases actually constitute suspicion of a criminal act or whether this would be disproportionate use of police powers.

Under the rules on movement restrictions currently in place and the possible introduction of mobile contact tracking apps, the police must not have the orders to place all citizens under constant surveillance simply because they are all potential perpetrators of criminal acts.

"In a democratic society, it is always key that the mildest form of interference in one's rights is used and that the police use any of their powers only if this is absolutely necessary," the information commissioner also wrote.

STA, 27 April 2020 - While lockdown measures remain in force, some Slovenians have started hitting the streets to protest against the government and the continuation of quarantine, with a few hundred people gathering in Ljubljana on Monday, several hundred in Maribor and smaller rallies held in several other cities.

The protests were initiated by a Facebook group called Resistance against the Government of the Republic of Slovenia, which calls for the situation in the country to be normalised and for Prime Minister Janez Janša to resign.

Around 150 people gathered in the square in front of Parliament House in Ljubljana at noon, and the number of protesters roughly doubled when newcomers lifted a fence set up by the police and joined the rally.

Several media reports say that there were no incidents or conflicts, with the police only warning the protesters to keep a safe distance among themselves.

One of the protesters called for national unity and "against plundering by both left and right" and for the "robbery of taxpayer money" to end, drawing some applause from the crowd.

Some of the signs called for Janša's resignation, while some individuals decided to hold impromptu speeches to call against the misuse of public money and for the measures to contain the coronavirus epidemic to be lifted.

A speech was delivered by Ladislav Troha, a former army officer who has become a major proponent of conspiracy theories online and has been on the fringe of many protests over the past decade and more.

Some of the protesters invoked widely circulated conspiracy theories saying they were rebelling against the deployment of 5G telecommunications technology and government plans to implant chips into them, according to videos circulated on social media.

Joining the call for protests were Facebook users in Nova Gorica, Ptuj, Trbovlje and Maribor. In Slovenia's second largest city, around 1,000 people gathered for a peaceful walk through the city streets, according to local media reports. Police say the number of protestors was much lower, just 100.

In some towns, people also carried signs in support of Ivan Gale, the whistleblower from the Commodity Reserves Agency who has revealed for national television political pressures in the procurement of personal protective equipment.

A Facebook page has been created in support for Gale, so far attracting some 54,000 members. Its moderators said yesterday that they had nothing to do with today's protests and disavowed the events.

Ljubljana police said there were roughly 200 people at the rally in Ljubljana, whose organisers registered the event on Friday but did not get permission due to the lockdown restrictions.

Maribor police said they had warned protestors they were violating the restrictions on movement and gathering. Reports against 19 persons were submitted to the Health Inspectorate, which controls quarantine compliance.

Interior Minister Aleš Hojs said on Twitter that police in Ljubljana and Maribor had IDd a large number of protestors, who will be fined. "They will also file criminal complaints against the organisers and participants, this constitutes the crime of hazard to health," he said.

Hojs also expects the police will ID additional participants with the help of published photographs and video. "The majority of the citizens are concerned about health and comply with the decrees," he said.

Monday's protests are the latest in a series of anti-government manifestations that started, mostly on social media, soon after the country went into lockdown.

A protest against restrictions of freedom during the epidemic was held on Friday as dozens of cyclists roamed the centre of Ljubljana, ringing bells, whistling and carrying slogans.

The protest, which was organised by a Facebook group which had previously been calling for protests from balconies and windows, also called against giving the army police powers to patrol the border and against attacks on journalists.

The current limit on public gatherings and general social distancing measures are preventing marches and rallies as forms of organised protest, but on Friday many still turned out in Ljubljana to show their disquiet at recent actions of the new government, getting around the restrictions by riding on bicycles, drawing attention by ringing the bells. Those in the streets where joined by others on balconies, making noise with pots and pans.

The protest, which is due to take place again at 7pm on 1 May – and perhaps every Friday in the weeks to come – aims to highlight what the participants claim are moves to exploit the covid-19 crisis to consolidate the power of the new Janez Janša led government, not least through attacks on the media and courts, as well as increases in police power and attempts to move troops to the southern border. Moreover, the protest gained a new focus on Thursday with the explosive claims of a whistleblower, supported with recordings and texts, that indicate high level corruption in recent deals to purchase personal protective equipment.

So don’t be surprised if you find yourself on the otherwise quiet streets of Ljubljana in the lockdown days ahead, on a Friday around 7pm, and come across a crowd of cyclists loudly heading towards Republike trg (the square in front of Parliament ), or hear pots and pans banging into the evening. Until things open up again, it may be the sound of the spring.

STA, 10 October - Right-wing parties organised a rally in Ljubljana Thursday afternoon, headlined Save Slovenia. Protestors, who filled the Prešeren Square, called against corruption and expressed their dissatisfaction with Prime Minister Marjan Šarec.

Organised by the non-parliamentary People's Party (SLS) and former Maribor mayor and upper chamber member Franc Kangler, the rally was also backed by the Democrats (SDS), the biggest opposition party, as well as several non-parliamentary parties and civil initiatives.

In his address to what the SLS said were 5,000 protestors, Kangler talked about unequal treatment. Millions of euro of debt have been written off for some people, while others are being punished for helping out a neighbour, he said.

Več kot 5.000 se nas je zbralo pred Prešernovim spomenikom, da #RešimoSlovenijo ?? In jo bomo! @Marjan_Podobnik pic.twitter.com/8rF7sNDxOy

— SLS (@strankaSLS) October 10, 2019

He also accused the government of disrespecting the Constitutional Court and called on Šarec to resign. Slovenia needs a prime minister who shows respect for everybody, not just "first class" citizens. "Enough is enough," he said, adding "it smells like spring" in a reference to the start of Slovenian independence efforts dubbed as the Slovenian spring.

SDS head Janez Janša also addressed the protestors, saying the rally was about making a stop to double standards and the deep state. "This is the beginning of the end of anti-Slovenian comedy... After today, nothing will be as it was."

He called for debt write-offs to "first-class" citizens to be audited, that privileges for some be weeded out of the pension system, a complete block on the border for illegal crossings and lustration of corrupt judges.

He also called for de-centralisation of state institutions, more money for municipalities, abolishment of unnecessary agencies and funds, a drastic reduction in the number of regulations, order in health care, among other things.

Prešernov trg je premajhen, protestniki tudi na treh mostovih in na Čopovi. #protest pic.twitter.com/MObNoDjqnO

— miro petek (@miro5ek) October 10, 2019

Janša also demanded responsibility of those who stole from state-owned banks twice, laundered terrorist money in them and shamed Slovenia around the world.

The SDS head said the protestors will insist on their demands, coming together again next time in even greater numbers and not only in Ljubljana, but across the country.

Other speakers also took the floor; demanding the resignation of Environment Minister Simon Zajc, whose department is viewed as having failed to control bear and wolf populations in Slovenia, and criticising the government's ineffectiveness in shoring up illegal migrations.

At the rally, signatures were also collected under a petition listing the protestors' demands.

Before the rally, the key organisers were received by upper chamber President Alojz Kovšca, after which a mass for the homeland was given in the Franciscan Church in Prešeren Square, followed by a concert of patriotic songs.

Kako lep je danes Prešernov trg, ovit v slovensko zastavo ??? pic.twitter.com/wL5UzSxJOy

— Ana Zagožen (@AnaZagozen) October 10, 2019

STA, 19 September 2019 - Slovenian right-wing parties and a number of civil initiatives will stage a protest in Ljubljana on 10 October under the slogan Let's Save Slovenia. The demonstration will be held at the initiative of former Maribor Mayor Franc Kangler in cooperation with the non-parliamentary People's Party (SLS).

According to social media comments and media reports, the protest will be joined by the opposition Democrats (SDS) and the non-parliamentary party Greens of Slovenia as well.

The SLS has registered the protest which will address environmental, social, judicial and security issues as well as include music performances.

According to the party, a number of civil initiatives and movements, including 16 organisations in total so far, have decided to join the protest.

Kangler has told the national broadcaster that the protesters wanted to highlight inequality before the law, lowering climate standards to benefit rich companies and escalating poverty despite better economic indicators.

According to him, the protest will be a peaceful one, with protesters wearing yellow vests to honour the populist yellow vest movement that started in France last year.

The SLS leader Marjan Podobnik has told the STA that the protest brought together numerous initiatives which had emerged in the past few months including those tackling illegal migration and environmental issues.

"This is a protest against abnormalities, wrongdoings and greed," said Podobnik, adding that the demonstration was a way to criticise the government since it was its task to tackle those issues and corruption.

He hopes the protest will serve as a wake-up call for the government.

The prime minister's office has responded by saying that everybody has the right to stage a protest, pointing out that it should be held in line with regulations though.

STA, 15 March 2019 - Thousands of young people gathered in towns across the country on Friday, demanding decisive climate action from politicians. Organisers estimated the number of those rallying in Ljubljana up to 9,000.

Schoolchildren who gathered in Ljubljana's city centre were also joined by some adults, who brought their pre-school children to the rally, which started at 11:55 AM to indicate that is high time for action.

Protests were also held in Maribor, Koper, Novo Mesto, Kamnik, Ormož, Slovenske Konjice and Ravne na Koroškem.

Holding the banners saying "We've got no planet B", "You were allowed to dream, we will be living a nightmare", "Climate change is not cool", the protesters in Ljubljana gathered in Congress Square and then chanting and playing music moved around the city centre.

"Thousands of people understand we cannot go on like this. Thousands understand that we cannot live on a desolate planet," said Atila Urbančič of the Youth for Climate Justice movement, which organised the event.

"A change must come from us, youth, because we can no longer rely on the older generation," said activist Reja Debevec, who discussed the issue of climate change with MEPs in Strasbourg this week but was disappointed by the talks.

One of the youngest activist of the movement, Voranc Bricelj, said that young people should make concrete changes in their lives, use public transport more, eat less meat and stop using disposable plastic.

"When they (adults) see we mean it, they will follow suit - parents, teachers and other adults. Thus we'll be able to have several good things that cannot be replaced with money," he said.

Author Andrej Rozman - Roza addressed the rally as a representative of adults. He said that despite enormous technological progress, each new generation was more endangered. "You were born into a world of fraud, which is being justified by all sorts of stories and even laws. Money has become the biggest fraud and it has gone wild," he said.

The event was also supported by climate change expert Lučka Kajfež Bogataj, who attended an international conference in Maribor today. "Finally, the generation that will be most affected by our actions is raising its voice," she said, welcoming the movement.

But she believes one protest will not be enough. "Their success will depend on how persistent they will be and how numerous. A critical mass of the people who want something is very important," she told the STA.

After touring the Ljubljana centre with the protesters, representatives of Youth for Climate Justice presented their demands in person to Prime Minister Marjan Šarec and parliamentary Speaker Dejan Židan.

Their demands include green national budget reform, closure of the Šoštanj coal-fired plant and Velenje coal mine by 2030, and reducing carbon emissions in traffic to by 40% by 2040.

They called for eco-friendly development, new quality jobs, a shift to plant-based foods, and measures to stimulate community-owned power stations, housing co-operatives, community gardens and self-mobility.

"I must say the government is already doing a lot of that, the Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning has set out to do that," Šarec told them, inviting the youth "to help so that the measures are taken".

"We're glad you have taken action, warned of the issues and I believe words will be followed up by actions," said Šarec, who met the youth joined by the nominee for the new environment minister, Simon Zajc.

The protest has been supported by the Environment Ministry and the teachers' trade union SVIZ. Schools have indicated they will excuse the absence of student protesters from class.

The Global Climate Strike For Future is being held in more than 1,650 towns in more than 100 countries.