‘The genie is out of the bottle’: Robert Fico shooting highlights far wider crisis in Slovakia

Attack on prime minister lifts lid on divided politics of ‘one of the most polarised countries in Europe’

On Friday morning, Father Tomáš stood solemnly in the small Catholic church nestled near a park along the banks of the Danube River in Bratislava.

He had seen an increase in visitors since Wednesday’s shock shooting of Slovakia’s prime minister, Robert Fico, which has prompted soul-searching among the country’s deeply divided society. The priest, who did not wish to give his full name, planned to hold his weekly Sunday service to pray “for peace in Slovakia, so that we find mutual respect and understanding”.