In Slovakia there is a special police unit whose aim is to combat extremism and calls to him. About it reports Reuters.
According to Prime Minister Robert fico, the squad will consist of 125 people, his goals include the investigation of crimes related to the support and financing of terrorism and extremism, as well as statements instigating ethnic hatred, including on the Internet, and crimes on this basis.
As explained by fico, the main focus of the unit will be paid to the fight against far-right ideology. “New wave of fascism is rising not only in Europe but also in Slovakia, the Prime Minister said. We ignored the lessons of history, because no one believed that they can be repeated. But now we see that in Parliament and local government people use the Nazi salute, every day we hear remarks that cast doubt on the outcome of the Second World war, and Holocaust denial”.
The Agency considers a new unit with the growing popularity of far-right in Slovakia. Their party “Kotleba — the people’s party Our Slovakia” was founded in 2009 by a politician Marian Kotleba. She is actively pursuing anti-Roma, anti-migrant and anti-Muslim campaign. The basis of the party program — the protection of Slovak national identity and traditional Christian values. In March 2016, this movement took place in the Parliament, gaining more than eight percent of the vote. Since then, support for the party in the Slovak society has increased: according to the September polls, its activities are positive about 8.3 percent of the population. Kotleba party initiated the referendum on secession of Slovakia from the EU and NATO.
The fico, despite its centrist position, has repeatedly been criticized by human rights activists for refusing to agree to quotas on EU migrants. In may 2016, he said in an interview: “Slovakia is no place for Islam”, and was repeatedly accused of unemployment of Roma.