By: Sara Bertoncelj / Nova24tv
“The brown-shirted men were scaring in front of the Ministry of Culture again. They poured paint on the road and the sidewalk, and the police calmly watched them and waited for it to end,” Mitja Iršič, a public relations consultant at the Ministry of Culture, documented the events on Twitter. While some criticise police repression, it is also noticeable that the police – especially when they should be taking action – just stare silently and thus give impetus to re-art installations that are likely to hit us, the taxpayers, too.
The road in front of the Ministry of Culture quite often becomes an “artistic” canvas of such and other creations, which are supposed to carry a higher message. At the protest against the eviction of Metelkova, for example, non-governmental organisations blocked the street with street art – they poured red paint on the school benches, which symbolises blood, and wrote the names of employees at the Ministry on the tables. Then there was a gathering of culturists, which ended with littering and dismantling in front of the Ministry, and the actor and actress undressed to their underwear. In the “last action for culture”, the protesters expressed their disagreement with the state of culture by lying down on the street. Not to mention the constant messing around the facade of the Ministry. But it is precisely the fact that law enforcement is not taking action that gives a new impetus to new quasi-artistic creations.
“They were there in front of the building, staring silently at the “artists” pouring paint across the sidewalk and road. The van was also parked in front of the Ministry. How can they calmly watch such an obvious violation of public order and peace will never be clear to me,” wrote Mitja Iršič, public relations adviser at the Ministry of Culture, adding that the police’s inaction is a slap in the face to ordinary citizens who are punished for driving 33 km/h there although the limit is 30, and these bandits can intimidate the entire neighbourhood with impunity. He also reminded that such a silent stare of the police did not happen for the first time – last autumn the street was blocked every week. Each time with a new performance. And the police were watching. “Only once at the beginning did they write a payment slip to the two theatre actors who undressed in front of the Ministry of Culture. Of course both employed in public theatre. Safely funded through the corona,” he added.