Slovakia's hard-right Culture Minister Martina Šimkovičová dismissed the directors of the Slovak National Theatre and Slovak National Gallery last week.
ADVERTISEMENTThousands gathered in Bratislava on Monday to protest the recent dismissals of the heads of a swathe of cultural institutions in Slovakia by the country's culture minister.
Some 9,000 people demonstrated in front of the Slovak National Theatre and Culture Ministry in the city centre.
The protest follows the sacking of, amongst others, National Theatre director Matej Drlička and National Gallery head Alexandra Kusá last week, which some in the country see as a political purge.
In an explanation for her decision to sack Drlička posted on Telegram, Culture Minister Martina Šimkovičová claimed he was involved in “political activism” by criticising her ministry repeatedly and blamed Drlička for a chandelier that fell during a performance at the theatre.
After firing Kusá, Šimkovičová said she was responsible for "several managerial failures" as well as being the daughter of architect Martin Kusý, who led the reconstruction of the gallery.
Kusá responded by saying the allegations were "vague and mostly fabricated," pointing out that her relation to Kusý was known before her appointment in 2010.
Minister known for scandals
Kusá and her peers' position has been tenuous since Prime Minister Robert Fico appointed Šimkovičová as culture minister last October.
Šimkovičová, a former TV anchor, was previously embroiled in a scandal involving anti-migrant posts on social media, ending up in her getting fired from Markíza TV after mocking Syrian refugees.
Since then, she has made a name for herself by espousing anti-LGBTQ+, anti-COVID-19 vaccination and pro-Russian views. One of her first decisions after her appointment was to restore cultural relations with Moscow, which had been frozen since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Šimkovičová has also vehemently opposed the Istanbul Convention, a Council of Europe treaty pledging protections for women victims of violence.
Fico recently made his first public appearance since surviving an assassination attempt on 15 May.
Fico was shot in the abdomen and seriously wounded. The suspect was immediately arrested and faces terror charges.
In a speech marking his return to health, Fico rallied against progressive ideology and the West’s stance towards Russia.