STA, 6 September 2021 - The Ljubljana Administrative Unit has acted upon a proposal from Ljubljana police to ban rallies of the coronavirus deniers who stormed the public broadcaster's headquarters on Friday. It told the STA on Monday the decision on the ban will enter into force when it is handed to the organiser of the rallies on Tuesday.
The Ljubljana Police Department had unsuccessfully sought a ban back in July when a group of protesters already entered RTV Slovenija.
The Administrative Unit explained today it could not grant the request back then because the police had not presented "adequate reasons" to show such rallies would jeopardise lives or health. The police filed another proposal today, this time listing "adequate reasons" for the ban.
RTV Slovenija has meanwhile already filed criminal complaints against all those involved in Friday's incident, and plans to boost security around the broadcaster.
The broadcaster has sent a request to the Ljubljana municipality to purchase the land around the headquarters to erect a security fence.
The group of coronavirus deniers and anti-vaccination protesters managed to get into the newsroom studio before the police intervened and removed them.
Involved in the incident are believed to be a group led by ex-soldier Ladislav Troha and dubbed the Conscious Residents of Slovenia.
Troha could be seen on footage of the incident released by the public broadcaster.
The group has been protesting against Covid-19 containment measures and vaccination in front of RTV Slovenija for several months, harassing staff and demanding air time to be able to present their truth.
As can be seen on the eAdministration website, the group has reported its rallies in front of RTV Slovenija to hold them every day until the end of the year.
Its rallies are dubbed Peaceful Rally for the Liberation, Purification and Revival of RTV SLO and Slovenia.
The police investigation into the incident is ongoing after 44 violations of public law and order, 18 violations of the law on private security and 26 violations of the law on public assembly have already been established.
RTV Slovenija thanked all those who had expressed to it public support while regretting and condemning the fact that some had abused the incident on social media to imply that journalists were to be blamed for it.
