The Slovak Prime Minister was shot outside Bratislava

By Stefan J. Bos

Footage showed a gunman being thrown to the ground after apparently shooting Slovakia’s populist Prime Minister Robert Fico. Witnesses said several passersby and guards arrested the suspect.

As security forces attempted to secure the area, Fico was taken to hospital.

The incident occurred in the town of Handlova, about 150 kilometers northeast of the capital Bratislava. He was shot shortly after a government meeting while greeting crowds outside a cultural community building where the meeting was taking place. Several shots were heard before his security guards pushed him into a nearby car.

A witness said she heard three or four shots and saw Prime Minister Fico fall to the ground. She saw wounds on his head and chest. Two of the prime minister’s guards quickly helped him and herded him into a car. He was then flown by helicopter to a nearby hospital, according to local reports.

In her initial reaction to the shooting, outgoing Slovak President Zuzana Caputova said she was shocked by the “brutal and ruthless” attack on the prime minister and wished him the strength to recover.

Fico, 59, returned to power in Slovakia after last September’s elections as head of a populist-nationalist coalition with close ties to neighboring Hungary.

His first months as prime minister were highly politically controversial. In January he stopped military aid to Ukraine and last month pushed through plans to abolish public broadcaster RTVS.

While doctors tried to save his life, it was not yet clear how serious his injuries were.