"When books are burned, people are the next in line," sociologist Aleš Debeljak said.

Boris A. Novak said that book burnings were believed to be a thing of the past and is therefore not surprised that such acts cannot be persecuted. "No law includes such depraved acts and those who wrote the Constitution had no idea this would return."

The incident reminded Veno Taufer, a former president of the Writers' Association, of the Nazis and of political games and intrigues that came into being immediately after Slovenia gained independence.

Ivo Svetina quoted Ivan Cankar (1876-1918), who said in one of his works that Slovenians were "the rabble that remained in the Slovenian lands after Protestants had been driven out".

He labelled the attempted book burning by "so-called patriots" a clear form of fascism and hatred. Debeljak similarly believes that the incident was an act of hate speech and a symptom of barbarism.

Today's event came nearly three weeks after a group of 15 people, members of a Fabecok group called the Alliance of Slovenian Patriots, staged a rally in front of the Kučan family home, accusing Slovenia's first president of corruption.

As part of the rally, they attempted to burn a Kučan biography by historian Božo Repe, which had been launched shortly before the incident.

The rally was widely criticised, especially on the late-December anniversary of the mass burning of Protestant books that took place more than 400 years ago.