Judging by the imagery, the latest unregistered protest of the opponents of the government’s measures adopted to curb the covid-19 pandemic was not too different from Friday’s political cycling protests. Namely, you could see worshippers of communist totalitarian symbols at both rallies. This should also put an end to the speculations about the alleged ideological indeterminacy of the Wednesday protesters, who, according to online commentators, are clearly placing themselves on the left political bank by not distancing themselves from such cases. The protest was also marked by an obstruction of traffic, namely, on Poljanska Street, there was an incident when an old lady drove into the crowd of protesters who were standing on the road and hit one of them. The footage shows that the protester first sat on the hood of her car and then tripped and fell. However, they tried to show the whole thing as if that lady intentionally hit him. Either way, protesters were on the road, obstructing traffic.
“From the very beginning, certain media and “experts” have been explaining to us in various shows how the people at the protests are mainly undecided voters. Sorry, but if you are truly undecided and you see a totalitarian symbol in the crowd, you distance yourself from the event and do not let yourself be equated with such people. So? Everything is clear now,” social media user Jure Colja commented on the participants of Wednesday’s protests on Twitter, attaching a photo of the protest of opponents of government measures, in which one of the participants in the unreported rally was carrying a red star. The latter, according to several online commentators, is sufficient proof that it is also the participants at Wednesday’s rallies, and not just the ones at Friday’s protests, who politically define themselves as left-wing.
The individual who was carrying the red star at the protest attracted the attention of a large number of online commentators. Photos from Wednesday’s protest show that, as far as imagery is concerned, many more flags of the Republic of Slovenia were present; however, the one and the same example of the red star is always being highlighted.
Vinko Vasle, a long-time journalist and columnist for the Demokracija magazine (Democracy), also published a photo of a troublemaker who has apparently been causing trouble in the vilest ways for more than 30 years now. “On the right – the bastard who collected money on Roška Street during the JBTZ protests, claiming it was for flowers. He was exposed and handed over to the police. During the protests in front of the court, during the Patria case, he stole candles and resold them. Now, he is among the crazy hooligans,” Vasle wrote.
However, this was not the only such case. Vasle also identified one of the protesters, who waved his fist in front of a police officer. The man is supposedly Mitja Oven, which was also confirmed by the Nova24TV columnist Davorin Kopše. Vasle wrote that Oven had already been convicted of several crimes. He was also one of the anti-protesters at the Patria trial.
It seems that the only difference between the Wednesday and Friday unregistered protests is the number of participants. If they were ever really ideologically undecided, this has clearly changed in recent weeks. The change was already noticeable when the notorious activist and rapper Zlatan Čordić, who had previously been one of the central figures in Friday’s protests, joined the protest alongside the president of the Resni.ca (the Truth) party. It did not take long for the organiser of the Wednesday protests, Zoran Stevanović, to confirm that if Resni.ca came to parliament, he would not work with SDS or Janez Janša. Despite the fact that only a couple of months ago he was saying how politicians are the same, he has now shown his true colours.
The protesters obstructed traffic
Of course, the protests did not pass without incidents, obstructions of traffic, or even arrests. The people of Ljubljana are slowly getting tired of the weekly protests, as the protesters are obstructing traffic, making it impossible for parents to pick up their children from kindergartens and get home from work safely. The schools have even had to organise distance learning. Drivers are growing impatient, which became apparent on Wednesday, and the protesters continue to block their way and carelessly walk on the roads. As a result, an “incident” happened on Wednesday, when an old lady hit a protester with her car. When the police arrived, the protesters shouted, “Arrest this vaccinated woman,” and “Are you insane?” They angrily banged their fists on her car and sat on it, despite the fact that the lady was driving properly, and it was the protesters who were obstructing traffic and walking in the middle of the road. “Is anyone surprised by the fact that the citizens of Ljubljana have had just about enough of these drunken idiots?” one Twitter user commented on the video of the incident.
Protesters also damaged a police car and threw granite cubes at police officers
So far, police officers have detected 43 violations of the Protection of Public Order Act and 75 violations of the Public Assembly Act. According to the information of the police, about 4,000 people gathered at the protest. One person’s pyrotechnics were seized, and a dangerous object which is not allowed to be brought to a public rally was also seized. So far, four crimes have been detected. One is a criminal offence of causing damage to a foreign object (damaged police service vehicle), and in three cases, the criminal offence was an attack of an official and the prevention of official acts (throwing granite blocks at police officers). According to the information known so far, no police officer was injured. A total of 17 people were detained during the unreported rally. Coercive means were used to establish public order, and physical force, along with means of restraint, were used to control the resistance of persons and to drive the crowd away from certain areas. According to the information known so far, no one was injured during the protests.
Sara Kovač
