Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša has condemned the defacing of a monument in the courtyard of the government of the Austrian state of Carinthia in Klagenfurt during Saturday’s ceremony to mark the 100th anniversary of the Carinthian plebiscite.
Janša said on Twitter on Sunday that the defacing of the monument to Carinthian unity was detrimental to the Slovenian compatriots in Carinthia and Slovenia’s reputation in the world.
Over the night, unknown perpetrators covered the monument with black and turquoise paint and wrote “Death to Fascism” in Slovenian.
Calling the act a primitive left-wing disgrace, the prime minister said it had been “indirectly enabled by the Slovenian prosecution, which in practice supports ideologically-coloured death threats.”
Janša was referring to the slogans “Death to Janšism” carried at some of the earlier anti-government protests prompted by anti-coronavirus measures.
The Austrian authorities have launched investigation of the act of vandalism which has also been condemned by Austrian politicians, including Carinthia Governor Peter Kaiser and Austrian President Alexander van der Bellen.
The latter attended the ceremony in the capital of the southern Austrian state together with Slovenian President Borut Pahor.
The presidents of all three umbrella organisations of the Slovenian minority in Carinthia have also critical of the act.