PRAGUE, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- Slovakia has stepped up security measures for some protected persons and designated buildings in light of "an increase in announced public gatherings," the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.
Increased personal protection has been provided to certain individuals by the Interior Ministry's Office for the Protection of Constitutional Officials and Diplomatic Missions based on operational findings, the ministry said in a statement without providing more details.
"We had to take these measures again because of the increased spread of hate speech against some constitutional officials, which could result in an incident similar to the one that happened on May 15 in Handlova," Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok said in the statement, referring to the shooting of Prime Minister Robert Fico in May in the central Slovak town.
Thousands of people gathered in Bratislava on Tuesday to protest against the government, criticizing the current situation in culture and personnel changes in cultural institutions, according to the News Agency of the Slovak Republic.
A similar protest was also held on Monday in the Slovak capital. ■
