Thousands rally in Slovakia to condemn the new government’s plan to close top prosecutors’ office

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — Thousands have rallied in the capital and other major cities in Slovakia to denounce a plan by the new government of populist Prime Minister Robert Fico to amend the country’s penal code. The changes proposed by the coalition government include a proposal to abolish the special prosecutors office that handles serious crimes such as graft, organized crime and extremism by mid-January, and return those prosecutions to regional offices, which have not dealt with such crimes for 20 years. The noisy but peaceful crowd in Bratislava gathered in a rally organized by several opposition parties has demanded Fico’s resignation.