“With today’s violent storming of the premises of Television Slovenia, the protesters grossly abused the right to peaceful protest. We expect decisive action from the competent institutions,” the RTV management board wrote in a response to the incident of the intrusion of anti-vaxxers into the premises of RTV Slovenia. Ladislav Troha, the controversial singing major, was also among the protesters.
On Friday at around 8.30 p.m., a group of around 20 protesters broke into the building of Television Slovenia and even managed to get into the studio of the evening news programme. Judging by the photos, the situation was tense and dangerous, and police officers equipped with full combat equipment had to intervene.
The management of RTV Slovenia strongly condemned the protesters’ actions and also announced that they will use any legal means necessary to prevent such an incident from happening again. “We also expect all institutions to respond to today’s incident appropriately and prevent something like this from happening ever again,” the RTV management board responded to the incident involving the anti-vaxxers who have been protesting in front of the national media outlet’s building for the last four months.
Troha and the other virus deniers have been practically living outside the RTV for months now
After months of harassment by the protesters – the so-called OPS movement (Osveščeni prebivalci Slovenije – Informed Citizens of Slovenia), the RTV Slovenia also became the target of an unacceptable and repulsive attack by the same movement on Friday. “Protesters who have been practically living in front of the building of Television Slovenia for the last couple of months, harassing our employees and guests of RTV Slovenia, broke into the main RTV Slovenia building tonight and endangered the safety of our employees. The police had to intervene and remove the protesters from the premises,” the RTV representatives wrote in a statement.
“At RTV Slovenia, we respect the constitutional right to freedom of expression, but we are committed to communicating in a dignified manner. During these four months, the protesters have been expressing their beliefs in a completely inappropriate manner, insulting our employees and guests, and even breaking into the building of RTV Slovenia and disrupting the work processes. The management has therefore used many official channels, including numerous reports to the police and the Inspectorate of the City of Ljubljana, in order to protect the public interest and the mission of our media outlet, and above all, to protect our employees and visitors from possible unforeseen events. The authorities never responded in an appropriate manner,” they also wrote.
They believe that the attack on RTV Slovenia that they experienced is not comparable to any other attack on the media in Slovenia. The physical intrusion and attack on RTV Slovenia is not only an attack on the institution itself but also on free and independent journalistic work, which is one of the fundamental postulates of democracy. Every democratic society must have zero tolerance for such incidents. “We respect freedom of speech and demand that everyone respect our duty of professional work, the basic norms of civilisation and the fundamental right of our employees to personal dignity, integrity and security,” they added.
Sara Kovač
