Slovak opposition rallies against the government of populist Prime Minister Robert Fico

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BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — Thousands of protesters gathered in Slovakia’s capital on Sunday, the 35th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution that brought an end to decades of communist rule in Czechoslovakia, to oppose the policies of populist Prime Minister Robert Fico.

The protest united the opposition, including the liberal Progressive Slovakia, pro-business Freedom and Solidarity and the conservative Christian Democrats who all said Fico's a threat to democracy.

“The government takes our freedom and democracy,” a banner in the crowd read.

“Slovakia is and will be part of the Western civilization,” a conservative political veteran František Mikloško, who was one of the Slovak leaders in 1989, told the crowd at downtown SNP square. “We don’t want anyone to move us toward Moscow.”

Czechoslovakia peacefully split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993.

Freedom and Solidarity leader Branislav Gröhling said Fico is leading the country “to an authoritarian regime like in Russia and communist China.”

Michal Šimečka, the head of Progressive Slovakia, which is currently the most popular party in the country, said the opposition will do what it takes to protect freedom and democracy.

“Slovakia is and will be a nation of free people. And free people won’t be silent,” he said.

Fico and his leftist Smer (Direction) party won last year’s won parliamentary elections on a pro-Russia and anti-American platform.

His government has pushed through a plan to overhaul public broadcasting — a move critics said would give the government full control of public television and radio.

That, along with a move to amend a penal code and eliminate a special anti-graft prosecutor, has led opponents to worry that he would lead Slovakia down a more autocratic path, following the direction of Hungary under populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

His views on Russia’s war on Ukraine and other issues sharply differ from the European mainstream. Fico ended his country’s military aid for Ukraine, opposes EU sanctions on Russia, wants to block Ukraine from joining NATO and plans a trip to Russia.