Slovenian Interior Minister Boštjan Poklukar and Justice Minister Andreja Katičová resigned on Sunday, a day after a man was killed in the city of Novo Mesto after he was allegedly attacked by a member of the Roma community. The incident caused public outrage in the country. TASR informs about it according to the reports of the agencies STA and AFP.
According to the local police, a 48-year-old man was attacked by a thug in front of a bar in Novi Mesto, where he had come to pick up his son, on Saturday. According to information from the STA agency, he complained that he was being threatened by a group of members of the Roma minority. The media and local authorities attributed the attack to this group, while police said only that they had detained a 21-year-old man with a criminal recordwrites AFP. Tensions with the city’s local Roma community have escalated over the past year due to an increase in crime and violence, often blamed on the minority.
In their short statements, both outgoing ministers stated objective responsibility and Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob said that “people have a right to security and yesterday this right was not respected”.
“This should not have happened. The ministers responsible took responsibility and resigned,“said the prime minister at a press conference after an extraordinary meeting that was called on Sunday to discuss the aforementioned incident. He accepted both resignations. However, the ministers will remain in their positions until their successors are appointed. Responding to the opposition’s demand that the entire government resign, Golob said his resignation would mean he was shirking responsibility.
„This violent incident proves that the problem with the Roma community, which we have been drawing attention to for a long time, is getting worse and state institutions have not taken any measures despite the seriousness of the situation,” Nove Mesto mayor Gregor Macedoni said in a statement on social media. Macedoni also called an emergency meeting of local authorities and a demonstration for Tuesday afternoon to demand measures from the government to ensure security in the region.
Golob reported that the government would send additional police units to the area and announced legal measures. He said the government would come up with a new set of legislative changes in the coming weeks to improve the situation. The prime minister added that he believed that this unfortunate event would speed up the adoption of legislation that was impossible in the past but would now likely be more socially and politically acceptable.
The Slovenian Council of the Roma Community estimates that between 7,000 and 12,000 members of this minority live in a country of approximately two million inhabitants.
