Witness says 'I was trying to take a picture' with Slovak PM Robert Fico when he was shot
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Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico greeting people in Handlova, Slovakia, on May 15, before he was shot.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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HANDLOVA, Slovakia - Richard Krajcik was hoping to get a selfie with Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico in the main square of his hometown of Handlova when shots rang out.
Mr Krajcik was just steps away when Mr Fico stretched out his hand to greet a crowd gathered behind a security barrier and a gunman fired a quick succession of shots at the nationalist leader on May 15.
Even as Mr Fico crumpled and fell backwards over a park bench, the train conductor thought the gunshots might be firecrackers.
“I only realised that he was shot after the second gunshot.
“Everything happened so fast,” Mr Krajcik told AFP, as he gazed at the spot where Mr Fico was shot.
Mr Krajick, 21, like many others in Handlova, is still coming to terms with the assassination attempt
“It is so shocking... I never thought something like this could ever happen in Handlova,” he said.
Security guards quickly bundled Mr Fico into a nearby car, before he was airlifted to a hospital for an five-hour emergency surgery to save his life.
His condition has since stabilised but remained “very serious”, according to government officials.
“Words cannot even describe the way it makes me feel,” said Ms Alzbeta Rajcokova, 78, who pushed through the crowd waiting to catch a glimpse of the premier an hour before he was shot.
“When I think about the fact that the shooter might have been among the crowd of people, it makes me feel terrible,” Ms Rajcokova told AFP.
The shooting along with a rash of bomb threats at schools has left the 78-year-old at a loss.
“People nowadays... lack humanity, honesty, and gratefulness,” Ms Rajcokova told AFP, as she shook her head in disbelief.
Country deeply divided
For resident Andrea Madajova, Mr Fico was more than just a politician.
Ms Madajova said he helped the community with disaster relief after flooding hit the area hard more than a decade ago.
“Fico visited and helped Handlova often in the past,” the 47-year-old told AFP.
“It really got to me,” she said of the shooting.
“The tension in Handlova is definitely high after yesterday.”
Mr Fico, whose party won the general election in September 2023, is a four-time premier and hard-bitten veteran accused of moving his country’s foreign policy closer to the Kremlin.
It is in small towns like Handlova that Mr Fico often has his base. His party took more than half the town’s votes in elections in 2023.
For many in Handlova, the attempt on Mr Fico’s life has shown up the bitter polarisation that threatens to tear Slovakia apart.
“I think that the hatred should be stopped,” said Ms Ingrid Pavlíkova, 43.
“No matter how hated he is by citizens, nobody deserves this.” AFP
