NEWS
Prime Minister Janez Janša: The police were protecting democracy, safety of people and their constitutional right to peaceful assembly
"In the past weeks the police were protecting people and their property, the constitutional right to peaceful assembly and they were protecting democracy," Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša said in his address to the members of the Slovenian Police Forces. The Prime Minister firmly believes that during the announced demonstrations, the police will again be able to distinguish between peaceful protesters and violent demonstrators. "After the recent events, where the police showed a high degree of professionalism, Slovenian citizens continue to fully trust the police. I am convinced that you will not betray this trust." In Tacen the Prime Minister today attended the traditional new year's reception, hosted by the Director General of the Slovenian Police, Stanislav Veniger; among the invited were also the policemen who had been wounded by violent protesters during the recent demonstrations.
In connection to the upcoming Slovenian Independence and Unity Day, Prime Minister Janez Janša stressed the role and the importance of the Slovenian Police Forces at the time when Slovenia was striving for independence. "At that time the Slovenian Police were the spine supporting and protecting the processes leading to Slovenian independence, and during the ensuing war they were fighting on an equal footing with defence forces, and thus successfully protected the newly born state. Together with the Slovenian Territorial Defence, which was evolving into Slovenian Armed Forces, the Police were on the barricades to defend freedom, democracy and Slovenian statehood. But for them, Slovenia would not be here today. The course of events would have turned out differently, as many times before, when the opportunity for independence arose but was not seized.
Generations of policemen who participated in those events understand this perfectly, while younger generations of policemen must be taught and reminded, the Prime Minister said and added: "Freedom, democracy, or statehood are not values that may be acquired for eternity. These are values that need to be constantly nurtured and must, sometimes, be defended by force."
The Prime Minister also pointed out the need to show determination when drawing a line between peaceful assembly, demands to politicians to step down, requests for changes, requests for reestablishment of the state of law and justice on one side and violence and soliciting violence on the other. "Slovenian constitution protects the right to freedom of expression for all those who request it in a peaceful way. However, a clear line should be drawn between this right and the use of violence. Since, when violence is used, this constitutional right is no longer safeguarded, but, on the contrary, undermined. We need a social consensus to treat violence with zero tolerance" he said, adding: "I am convinced that the majority in Slovenia, a plebiscitary majority, shuns violence." The Prime Minister also reminded that even when our very existence was jeopardized, we fought back only when attacked. "During the Slovenian spring, no civil society action for achieving democracy, respect of human rights, and Slovenia's sovereignty was violent, all protests were peaceful, and dignified, and this is a moral standard that the majority of the Slovenian society has adopted," the Prime Minister concluded.
The reception was attended also by the Minister of the Interior, Vinko Gorenak, and the senior staff of the Ministry of the Interior.