{"id":29225,"date":"2024-05-15T19:23:55","date_gmt":"2024-05-15T23:23:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/live-updates-slovakias-leader-survives-surgery-after-shooting-deputy-says\/15\/05\/2024\/"},"modified":"2024-05-15T19:23:55","modified_gmt":"2024-05-15T23:23:55","slug":"live-updates-slovakias-leader-survives-surgery-after-shooting-deputy-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/live-updates-slovakias-leader-survives-surgery-after-shooting-deputy-says\/15\/05\/2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Live Updates: Slovakia\u2019s Leader Survives Surgery After Shooting, Deputy Says"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"live-blog-post\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/live\/2024\/05\/15\/world\/slovakia-prime-minister-fico-shooting#slovakia-prime-minister-fico\" data-source-id=\"100000009469693\">\n<div class=\"live-blog-meta css-1g3itdy\">\n<div class=\"css-yf9s2t\" data-testid=\"live-blog-byline\"><span class=\"css-13xl2ke\"><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"css-1ppjtba\"><span class=\"css-xtl8uk\"><time aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"css-3rgdz2\" datetime=\"2024-05-15T22:44:49.592Z\"><span>Updated\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-time=\"abs\" class=\"css-1656jku\">May 15, 2024, 6:44 p.m. ET<\/span><span data-time=\"rel\" class=\"css-xwx5dt\"\/><\/p>\n<p><\/time><span class=\"css-1dv1kvn\">May 15, 2024, 6:44 p.m. ET<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">Slovakia\u2019s prime minister, Robert Fico, a fixture in the country\u2019s politics and known for defying his fellow leaders in the European Union, underwent hours of emergency surgery on Wednesday after being shot five times and critically wounded in a town in central Slovakia, in what officials said appeared to be a politically motivated assassination attempt.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">His deputy, Tomas Taraba, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cg6761ggxz1o\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">told the BBC<\/a> that the operation appeared to have gone well. \u201cI guess in the end he will survive,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<div class=\"css-1dv1kvn\">\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">The shooting was the most serious attack on a European leader in decades, drawing shock and condemnation from Slovak officials and <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"#world-leaders-express-shock-at-assassination-attempt-against-robert-fico-slovakias-prime-minister\" title=\"\">other European leaders<\/a> and stoking fears that Europe\u2019s increasingly polarized and venomous political debates had tipped into violence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">The events were captured on videos, which showed Mr. Fico, 59, approaching a small group of people behind a waist-high metal barrier on a public square in the town of Handlova, when a man stepped forward and fired a pistol from just a few feet away. Five bangs could be heard.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">With the first bang, Mr. Fico doubled over at the waist and fell backward onto a bench as more reports ring out. Security officers then hustled him into a black Audi several feet away, half-carrying him to the car\u2019s rear door. He was taken to a local hospital and airlifted to another for surgery.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">Security officers at the scene of the shooting wrestled a suspect to the ground, and officials said that initial evidence pointed to political motivations. The authorities did not identify the suspect, whom Slovak news outlets described as a 71-year-old poet. The country\u2019s interior minister, Matus Sutaj Estok, said more information would be made public \u201cin the coming days.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">The president of Slovakia, Zuzana Caputova, whose position is largely ceremonial, said in a statement, \u201cThe shooting of the prime minister is first and foremost an attack on a human being, but it\u2019s also an attack on democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">The shooting also drew a chorus of condemnation from world leaders, including President Biden, who called it a \u201chorrific act of violence,\u201d and Russia\u2019s leader, Vladimir V.<span class=\"css-8l6xbc evw5hdy0\">  <\/span>Putin, who lauded Mr. Fico as a \u201ccourageous and strong-minded man.\u201d<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"imageblock-wrapper\">\n<figure class=\"img-sz-medium css-d754w4 e1g7ppur0\" aria-label=\"media\" role=\"group\"><figcaption data-testid=\"photoviewer-children-caption\" class=\"css-gbc9ki ewdxa0s0\"><span class=\"css-jevhma e13ogyst0\">Prime Minister Robert Fico of Slovakia on a visit to Prague in February. <\/span><span class=\"css-1u46b97 e1z0qqy90\"><span class=\"css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0\">Credit&#8230;<\/span><span><span aria-hidden=\"false\">Michal Cizek\/Agence France-Presse \u2014 Getty Images<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">Mr. Fico began his three-decade political career as a leftist but over the years shifted to the right, as did the party he founded, Smer. He served as prime minister from 2006 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2018, before returning to power in elections last year. After being ousted amid street protests in 2018, he was re-elected on a platform of social conservatism, nationalism and promises of generous welfare programs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">Mr. Fico presented himself as a pugnacious fighter for the common man and an enemy of liberal elites and immigration from outside Europe, and he aligned with Hungary\u2019s prime minister, Viktor Orban, in opposing aid to Ukraine and challenging mainstream opinions within the European Union.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">Domestically, his critics accused him of undermining the independence of the news media, opposed his efforts to restrict foreign funding of civic organizations and called him a threat to democracy. They also accused Mr. Fico of seeking to take Slovakia back to the repressive days of the Soviet bloc.<\/p>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-h61jh5 evys1bk0\">Here is what else to know:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"live-blog-post-content css-1ie9vib ez3869y0\">\n<li class=\"css-1i3ul0c eoqvrfo0\">\n<p class=\"css-1il0jfh evys1bk0\">Mr. Fico was in Handlova to hold a governmental meeting, which he followed with a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/robertficosk\/videos\/341142801986299\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">nearly hourlong news conference<\/a>. He had just emerged from those events when he was attacked.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1i3ul0c eoqvrfo0\">\n<p class=\"css-1il0jfh evys1bk0\">The Parliament of Slovakia suspended its meetings and said it was \u201csignificantly\u201d bolstering its security measures. Some of Mr. Fico\u2019s parliamentary allies suggested that his liberal opponents had created the atmosphere for the shooting.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1i3ul0c eoqvrfo0\">\n<p class=\"css-1il0jfh evys1bk0\">Michal Simecka, the chair of the opposition party Progressive Slovakia, said he shared in the \u201chorror\u201d of the attack and stressed that the attacker was not a member of his movement or connected to his party in any way.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"live-blog-post-content css-1smqmx3 etfikam0\">Pavol Strba<!-- --> and <!-- -->Gaya Gupta<!-- --> contributed reporting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><button class=\"css-182hr0m\" data-testid=\"Show-More\" type=\"button\" aria-hidden=\"true\">Show more<\/button><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/live\/2024\/05\/15\/world\/slovakia-prime-minister-fico-shooting\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Updated&nbsp; May 15, 2024, 6:44 p.m. ET May 15, 2024, 6:44 p.m. ET Slovakia&rsquo;s prime minister, Robert Fico, a fixture in the<br \/><button class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/live-updates-slovakias-leader-survives-surgery-after-shooting-deputy-says\/15\/05\/2024\/\">Read More &rsaquo;<\/a><\/button><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29227,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29225"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}