Kalinak: We Informed Committee on Situation, Priority Given to Peaceful Protests

Bratislava, January 24 (TASR) - At Friday's extraordinary meeting of the parliamentary committee for supervising the activities of Military Intelligence, its members were briefed in detail on the current security situation in connection with the protests, stated Defence Minister Robert Kalinak (Smer-SD), who attended the committee, lambasting the opposition for convening the committee only to use it to criticise the coalition. Gradually, according to him, acts will come from law enforcement bodies. He denied that the secret service was abused. The ambition of the measures, according to him, is to ensure the peaceful conduct of civil protests and to prevent possible provocations. "We informed in detail, I think even beyond what was requested," said Kalinak, commenting on the committee's deliberations. He stated that the opposition wanted to use the committee to make a political statement, adding that they can't report on evidence in committees. He noted that the committee is supposed to oversee the activities of the Military Intelligence. "We said how the Military Intelligence participated in this," said Kalinak. The defence minister reiterated that the protests can't be misused for a violent protest and this was on the agenda of Thursday's (January 23) Security Council meeting. "Specific interconnections, financial flows between individuals and a militant group which has been in Slovakia in the meantime and which is interested in being involved in such rallies, have been established and the relevant authorities are acting in this matter," he told reporters on Friday. am/mcs