By: Gal Kovač / Nova24TV
Yesterday’s public presentation of the report on the extraordinary control over the work of the police in protecting the protests on October 5th, 2021, upset a considerable part of the public. It is already the second police report on the same event, but with different and much less nuanced findings. The former head of the police has already responded to this, pointing out the first report since the event, which did not notice any major irregularities, and the alleged political orientation of Slavko Koroš, who also presented the new report. He wrote online that Koroš was “very dissatisfied with the previous government.” Regardless of the alleged bias of the authors of the report, changes in the field legislation are now being announced. With yesterday’s presentation of the report and exemptions from the fines imposed on violent protesters by the police, we rightly wonder if Robert Golob’s government is trying to legitimise political violence during the previous government.
The original report clearly states the circumstances of the protest. The event was rated A (high risk). The police cited the following reasons for this: the event was unannounced, organised without the presence of the police, with an unknown structure of participants, there was a high probability of conflict with opposing groups, past destruction of objects of special cultural value, severe traffic blockages (northern ring road), physical attacks (throwing bricks) on police officers at past rallies, throwing dangerous and flammable objects into the building of the National Assembly, a decree was in force to prevent the gathering of groups of more than 50 participants.
The day before, the government ordered the police to secure parts of Ljubljana, Kranj, and Bled from June 4th to June 6th due to the high probability of serious violations of public order and peace. Let’s remember that this was the time when the flower of European politics stayed in Ljubljana, who attended the EU-Western Balkans summit in Brdo pri Kranju. The decision on movement restrictions was published in the Official Gazette, the media and online.
Escalation of protest violence
The rally started at 3:00 p.m., participants came from all sides, the commander of the Ljubljana Centre Police Station warned the rally participants via megaphone that the rally was unannounced and that they should follow the instructions of the police. An interview was held with a person who is not named in the public version of the police report, in which it was explained to him that misdemeanour proceedings would be initiated against him if violations were detected, and at the same time that the rally would be disbanded if the protesters took it to the streets. At the time, there were approximately 2,000 participants at the rally, according to the police. After about an hour, there were already 3,000 people at the rally, and the unnamed speaker called on the protesters to occupy the streets of Ljubljana and prevent the police from taking away the thugs who had been deprived of their freedom. This was followed by an escalation of protest violence, including the blockade of the cordon of the political delegation. The police then announced that the rally was disbanded, but this was implemented with difficulty, as the violations of public order and peace did not end, on the contrary. According to the report, they had to use coercive means (physical force, water jet, locking devices, gas devices) to disperse them, but only against the most aggressive protesters. The full report is available at the link: Security of the public meeting held on October 5th in Ljubljana – report of the commission. In addition to the objective description of the violence in the report, which took place on the streets of Ljubljana that day, citizens can see for themselves from the many videos available online.
How should the police even react?
A neutral observer of the events, i.e., someone who is only interested in the professional question of establishing public order and peace and not in a revolutionary method of changing power, can rightly ask how the police should act in the future when protesters decide to block public transport and not just some corner streets, but rather the northern ring road, or when protesters decide to attack the motorcade of foreign political delegations. Will they use special psychotherapeutic methods to try to convince the enraged protesters that their anger and hunger for the destruction of public property is just a product of childhood trauma?
Legitimisation of political violence
Cynicism aside, the latest police report seems distinctly biased at first glance. First of all, it gives legitimacy to the political violence (together with the dominant media) carried out by the protesters at a series of protest rallies, creates the conditions for the resumption of violent attempts to change power in the future (of course at the needs and orders of the political left), and at the same time gains confidence in the authority and legitimacy of the work of police officers. Similar to trust in the work of the police, the anonymous letters we receive at our address testify to the alleged activities of coastal criminal Dean Jurič, about whom we have already written a lot about. The criminal activities are related to drugs, prostitution, and other things. These activities have so far not been confirmed by a court, despite some unanswered clues. Obviously, the influence of both Koroš and Jurič in the police under the government of Robert Golob is increasing significantly.
Who should be really ashamed, the police or Slavko Koroš?
Yesterday’s presentation of the results of the surveillance also testifies to another oddity, which is not directly related to the content of the message in question but shows the nature of those involved and their distinct political affiliation. Koroš, a declaratively impartial criminal, said in front of the cameras of 24ur, which is otherwise known as a media outlet for left-wing political circles in the police, through a connection with journalist Damjana Seme: “In those moments when I watched how the police fumigated Ljubljana and used excessive force against people, I was ashamed to be a police officer for the first time in my life. First and hopefully last time.” With his confession of emotions, he clearly stabbed a knife in the back of all the policemen who risked their lives among the frenzied protesters to fulfil the mission entrusted to them by the nation. But if it had remained only with the emotional confessions of “impartial” police officers, it would not have been so bad. Court proceedings against the policemen who were responsible for the establishment of law and order in Ljubljana are being announced.
“I hope that the accused policemen, whom I value and respect, will receive a fair process,” wrote the former police chief Dr Olaj.