Recently, information has been circulating on social media that the police visited farms before the announced protest and asked how many farmers were planning to come to Ljubljana with tractors to participate in the protest. The Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovenska Demokratska Stranka – SDS) Parliamentary Group considers this to be a disproportionate interference by the police in the right to peaceful assembly and expression of opinions, and has therefore called for an extraordinary meeting of the Committee on the Interior, Public Administration and Local Self-Government.
The Slovenian Farmers’ Union and other non-governmental agricultural organisations have announced a nationwide farmers’ protest in Ljubljana for Tuesday, the 25th of April, 2023. The reason for the protest was the unwillingness of politics to listen to farmers and to take action to enable farmers to farm. Following this announcement, on Friday, the 21st of April 2023, it was reported on social media that the police had visited farms before the announced farmers’ protest to find out how many farmers were planning to drive tractors to Ljubljana for the nationwide farmers’ protest.
A farmer from the municipality of Ljubljana posted on social media that he had been visited by the police and asked whether he intended to attend the protest. He was also asked if he knew anyone else who would be attending the protest. The information that police officers have been visiting farmers and asking them whether or not they will take part in the nationwide farmers’ protest in Ljubljana with their tractors, and questioning citizens as to whether they know who will take part in the protest, has come from various areas of Slovenia. This is pure abuse of police powers and, in the case of asking if they know who will be attending a public rally, a pure incitement to the worst kind of denunciation. It is about the intent to intimidate citizens through the repressive authorities, which is what the police are, and which we remember from the times of the former totalitarian state. It is well known that such practices were carried out during the period of the former totalitarian state by the secret political police, which has been recognised by the Supreme Court of the Republic of Slovenia as a criminal organisation.
The petitioners of the extraordinary session believe that the conduct of the police constitutes an impermissible interference with the constitutional right to freedom of movement (Article 32 of the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia), protection of personal data (Article 38 of the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia), the right to personal dignity and security (Article 34 of the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia), and the right to freedom of expression (Article 39 of the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia).
In view of such conduct of the police against citizens, it is worth recalling the statement of the Speaker of the National Assembly, Urška Klakočar Zupančič, MSc, who, at the third session of the National Assembly on the 1st of June 2022, said: “I promise, Mr Golob, that I will be the first to speak up if you send the police to fight against protesters with the water cannon, tear gas, batons, or in any other way.” She also said, among other things, that the right to protest is a constitutional right and that no one will disperse protesters.
Such behaviour by the police affects the level of trust in its work, its good name and reputation. Such conduct is also inconsistent with the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia, which regulates the right to peaceful assembly and expression of opinions, the Public Assembly Act, the Police Tasks and Powers Act, and by-laws and the Code of Police Ethics.
Sara Kovač
