JUST NOW: Watched as the Prime Minister was shot after the meeting

 

Slovakia

Slovakia's prime minister shot

Martin Palmborg

Updated 16.36 | Published 15.08

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has been shot several times after a government meeting in the town of Handlová.

He has now been taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries.

"When the shots rang out, I almost went deaf," says a witness to Dennika N.

The shooting occurred outside a cultural center in Handlova, about 15 miles northeast of the capital Bratislava. Prime Minister Robert Fico had then gone out to meet the voters after a government meeting.

"I went over to shake his hand," a man who witnessed the incident told Slovak Dennika N.

"When the shots rang out, I almost went deaf," said one woman, adding that she heard three or four shots. She then saw Fico fall to the ground in front of her.

Here, Fico is taken into a car after the shooting. Photo: Radovan Stoklasa / Reuters

"Has life-threatening injuries"

Images circulating on social media show the prime minister being lifted up by security guards and carried into a car.

"He was shot several times and has life-threatening injuries. He is now being taken by ambulance helicopter to Banská Bystrica because it had taken too long to get to Bratislava. The next few hours are critical," reads a post on his Facebook page.

According to media reports, Fico was shot in the chest and abdomen.

The suspected perpetrator, who is in his 70s, is said to have been arrested by the police, writes Dennik N.

Robert Fico talks to people gathered before the government meeting. Photo: Radovan Stoklasa / AP

Kristersson: "Condemns today's brutal attack"

The country's president Zuzana Čaputová condemned the attack, describing it as brutal and ruthless.

"I am shocked. I wish Roberto Fico all the strength at this critical moment and that he recovers from the attack," she said, according to Slovak SME.

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has also spoken out about the shooting.

"I condemn today's brutal attack on Prime Minister Fico. It is an attack on our democracy and our society. My thoughts go out to Robert and his family," he writes in a post on X.

The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, also condemns the attack.

"Such acts of violence have no place in our society and undermine democracy," writes von der Leyen on X.

 
Robert Fico. Archive image.