Shooting of Premier Inflames Political Divisions in Slovakia
- Robert Fico remains in critical condition after attack
- Incoming president calls on parties to suspend EU campaigns
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Robert Fico was just doing what he usually does, especially in a part of the country that voted for him. But minutes after Slovakia’s prime minister emerged from a meeting to mingle with supporters in the town of Handlova, he was being rushed to hospital with bullet wounds.
The attempted assassination by a 71-year-old pensioner and poet has left the country in shock. It also quickly turned the spotlight on the inflammatory politics that have become so prevalent in Europe since the coronavirus pandemic and turbocharged by Russia’s war on Ukraine.