Showdown in Bratislava

A public political confrontation turned kinetic yesterday afternoon in Bratislava. Former Slovakian Prime Minister Igor Matovič used a loudspeaker truck to troll a campaign event hosted by an opposing political party, directing his accusations specifically towards former Interior Minister Robert Kaliňák. Mr. Kaliňák responded by trying to take away Mr. Matovič’s microphone, and a minor brawl ensued. Police officers were forced to intervene.

As a matter of interest, the issue that prompted the confrontation was mass immigration into Slovakia. Mr. Matovič said that when Mr. Kaliňák’s party was in power, its policies caused the influx of migrants and drove Slovakians to emigrate.

The following description of the incident is taken from the notes to a short YouTube video posted by The Sun:

Former Slovak prime minister Igor Matovič and former interior minister Robert Kaliňák scuffled on Wednesday (September 13) after Matovič crashed an outdoor campaign event of Kaliňák’s SMER-SSD party.

Matovič drove a pick-up truck painted with a slogan “we will not hand you over to the mafia” to a televised SMER-SSD news conference and, through mounted loudspeakers, accused Kaliňák of poor immigration policies when he was interior minister in Fico’s cabinets.

Kaliňák went to the car and knocked on the driver’s window, while aides tried to disconnect the speakers at the back of the truck. Matovič then opened the door, and Kaliňák leaned in and tried to grab the microphone from him, while Matovič tried to push him away and swore at him, calling him a mafioso.

Matovič kicked at Kaliňák in video footage, while another SMER-SSD member punched Matovič before police intervened to separate the two sides.

Police said an investigation was underway. The OLANO and SMER-SSD parties did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

Matovič is an anti-graft campaigner whose OLANO party won the last election in 2020 but who ultimately was ousted as prime minister due to ruling coalition frictions. He has long accused SMER-SSD and its leaders including Kaliňák and three-time premier Robert Fico of being corrupt and sees them as his main adversaries. SMER-SSD leaders deny such accusations.

The incident at the campaign party underlined the volatile atmosphere ahead of the Sept. 30 election, for which Fico’s party leads in polls with an agenda to end military aid to neighbouring Ukraine. Matovič’s group, led by OLANO, is sitting at around the 7% threshold needed for coalitions to win seats.

Below is a longer video, shot from multiple points of view. Many thanks to Xanthippa for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes and RAIR Foundation for the subtitling:

Video transcript:

0:00   …illegal immigrants, whom we know nothing about.
0:03   So, gentlemen, you invited us to a public press conference, didn’t you?
0:07   So we came. You didn’t like it much, did you? What, do you want to obstruct us?
0:12   Are you ashamed of what you are doing? Why are you lying to people?
0:17   March 13, 2018.
0:23   Which law? Who passed that law?
0:29   Wasn’t it the Mafia law of Kaliňák, by chance? Which you passed,
0:34   so that foreigners could come to Slovakia in this way?
0:39   Wasn’t it the law of the Mafioso Kaliňák, by chance?
0:43   Of course it was. On the basis of your law,
0:48   only foreigners can get these papers, for which
0:54   they are coming to Slovakia. All over Europe, only in Slovakia, Kaliňák’s papers.
1:00   When you approved it, [???] approved it, and now you are lying to people before
1:05   the elections, are you not ashamed? Do you really think that your voters eat hay?
1:11   Do you really think that your voters can’t count to two?
1:16   You approved the papers, for which refugees are coming to Slovakia.
1:23   And you had the opportunity to vote on Monday at the extraordinary meeting.
1:27   And you are now shamelessly pretending that you are the problem-solvers and you are
1:32   going to save Slovakia. This primitive Russian is laughing into the camera here.
1:37   You are saving Slovakia? You are destroying it!
1:41   Because of you, there are 200,000 Slovak refugees in the world, because they couldn’t
1:48   live here. Why are you not ashamed?
1:52   It’s not a problem. What are you doing with it? What are you doing with it, for f***’s sake?
1:57   Get out, get out!
2:01   Go away! Leave it! Don’t touch it! It’s ours, it’s ours, go away!
2:08   Kaliňák, Mafia! Mafia, Kaliňák!
2:12   Go to hell, thief! You should have brought another microphone for the thief, because I know
2:18   he’s a thief. Don’t touch me!
2:21   Go to hell, Kaliňák, I’m telling you! Go to hell!
2:25   Kaliňák, go! You destroyed Slovakia, because of you the refugees are here. Don’t touch me!
2:32   Go to hell, I’m telling you!
2:35   Let it go! Stop it, Igor!
2:39   Let it go! Let it go!
2:43   Let it go, it’s mine, it’s mine! Let it go, you a*****e!
2:47   You, a*****e, you’re a big psycho! You’re a big psycho!
2:51   You, a*****e! You’re a big psycho, you bastard!
2:56   You, a*****e! You’re a bastard, you’re a bastard!
3:01   You’re a bastard, you’re a bastard!
3:10   Enough! [Cop] Sir, sir! Enough! [Cop] Step aside, sir!
3:15   I’m going to beat you up! Get out of here! [Cop] Let’s [???] go away.
3:18   Give me the microphone! It’s my property, where are you stealing it?
3:23   I’m not taking it! Give it to me!
3:27   Give it to me! Give it to me!
3:31   Come here, come here! Give it to me!
3:36   Where are you stealing it? Verdict!
3:39   You’re a thief! You’re a thief!
3:43   You’re a thief! You’re corrupt thieves!
3:48   You destroyed Slovakia!
3:51   200,000 people had to leave Slovakia because of you!
3:55   You killed Jana and Martin, so don’t be ashamed!
3:59   This mafia man here, opposite me, with Kocner and Bašternáh, was doing business!
4:04   You stole billions of euros!
4:07   Billions of euros! You’re going to confess, gentlemen!
4:11   Mr. Matovič, I’m calling you,
4:14   I’ll drag you out of here, OK? Yes, I won’t be stopped.
4:18   So don’t deceive people, my dear [???]!
4:21   You approved the law that the papers are given out to the refugees, you had the opportunity
4:25   to vote against it on Monday, today the problem could have been solved!
4:29   From today, no refugee has to have a paper,
4:32   and you’re pretending to be the solver here!
4:36   You caused this problem! I’m calling you again, get out of the car!
4:40   You’re disturbing me, blocking the car, when you’re working on them, it’s OK,
4:43   I don’t want to hit them! Go away! Go away, you mafia man, OK?
4:48   You’re a mafia man! You’re a total fool!
4:52   You destroyed Slovakia, you’re a cancer! And you think that people will believe you forever,
4:56   that your voters are eating hay, right? Mr. Matovič, third challenge,
5:01   get out of the car! I’m working within my space, I’m working within my space!
5:05   First time! First time I’m working within my space!
5:09   Yes, mafia man, keep your mug smiling, Kaliniacik, yes!
5:19   Bastard! Corrupt bastard!
5:23   You destroyed Slovakia, you’re a cancer!
5:30   You had the opportunity to approve the change of law,
5:33   and you’re pretending that you’re solving something, you’re not solving anything!
5:36   Marcek, corrupted, they bought you, poor bastards!
5:39   You’ll hear about this car as well as you can,
5:44   don’t be afraid, we’ve armed you! Corrupted mafia!
5:49   And since I can’t continue driving forward here,
5:52   I’ll have to reverse, so I’m going back, I guess.
6:02   [Cop] Come and pass through here. It’s hard to hear the truth, isn’t it?
6:13   Bastards, corrupted, destroyed Slovakia, 200 000 voters,
6:17   because of them, scattered all over the world,
6:21   who had to leave Slovakia, because it was impossible to live here,
6:25   and you’re going to scare people here with the migrants
6:29   you made to come to Slovakia, right? And you, with your papers,
6:32   from March 13, 2018, when you passed the Kalinákov law,
6:36   and which you approved, because of that,
6:40   the migrants are coming here. You could have stopped it,
6:44   but you didn’t, because you need to scare people
6:48   until they allow them to come here, so that they don’t get in the way
6:52   of the corrupted mafia gang.
 

8 thoughts on “Showdown in Bratislava

  1. As a matter of interest, the issue that prompted the confrontation was mass immigration into Slovakia. Mr. Matovič said that when Mr. Kaliňák’s party was in power, its policies caused the influx of migrants and drove Slovakians to emigrate.

    It is human nature . The same everywhere Ftench British slovcs. The enmity between parties is so great that they would bring muslim votes to beat the other party even if that will mean the disappearance of theuir nation and civil war.
    European want new fashions: new shirt . New dress nes telephone design. New jacket. New freedom for women. They don;t like old customd old religiomn/ They kmow about christians and christianity: They want something new like islam and muslims. So rapes and murders by muslims is sotheing new that they like. novel. so it is tilerable for the sake of novelty.

    Slovakians out muslims in means shopping for votes. The same in Britain, France, Canada …etc.
    All western “democracies’ are suicidal: they invite invades and call them traumatized refugees. or intelligentsia.
    Man has strange brain. Man is his own enemy.

    western politicians are born drunk and traumatized.

    Where is “the man for all seasons.”

    • “Where is “the man for all seasons.”.?

      He will appear when our “elites” have over-played their hand. Which is close now. Very.

      This will be when, unfortunately, there is no gentle solution.

      We, the people however, will forgive them, as they are led up the steps.

      And we will thank them for their service.

    • Pretty dramatic illustration of the failure of democracy as a form of governance.

      The same happens everywhere morons are allowed to participate in choosing who will beat and rob them, and the unscrupulous turn to short-term liasons of convenience for political advantage to the detriment of long-term national interest.

      Voting can only be valid as a method of choosing a government so long as those allowed to participate are knowledgeable on the issues and have some kind of skin in the game, and those running for office can easily be removed for treason and their assets confiscated. I’d like to see dueling revived as a means for politicians to settle their differences with one another.

      • I’m not convinced that the more “erudite” among us would make better choices.

        Trial by jury was, and is, a good idea because the judges and lawyers, with all their expertise, may lack the “common touch”, or basic good sense and humanity. Likewise with electing/appointing governments.

        • We still have trial by jury?

          There is something called trial by jury but in practice it no longer exists.

          Just ask Julian Assange how that trial-by-jury thing is working. Or Trump.

          Trial by jury can only be subverted if a case actually goes to trial. There are far too many ways justice can be subverted, the guilty never charged and the innocent persecuted by a venal and corrupt legal system without a case ever going to trial.

          I agree that the more “erudite” are not necessarily better at making decisions with regards to voting. That doesn’t mean that there shouldn’t be every effort made to keep those with little to no understanding of the issues from participating in that of which they don’t understand. My assertion was that those exercising franchise should be knowledgeable and have skin in the game. The skin in the game part is important; there should be some personal stake in the outcome of what’s being voted upon, or a financial stake in the sources of funding to pay for whatever boondoggle is being proposed.

        • Your civilized, tea drinking, crumpet eating means in todays world really does give me a deep belly laugh, for your naivety is the reason we got to where we are now. LOLOLOL!!!!! WE have gotten away from the old ways at our peril and now here we are!

    • No, the WEF and the so called elite and stupid, dumbed down public are the reason we are here. Even SMERSH wouldn’t let us do this to ourselves!

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