(Reuters) – Hundreds of theatres, galleries and other cultural organisations in Slovakia threatened to strike on Thursday if the Culture Ministry did not end what they described as intimidation of people working in the creative sector.

Many prominent Slovak cultural figures are at odds with Culture Minister Martina Simkovicova, amid growing polarisation in the country following Prime Minister Robert Fico’s repeated criticism of Western liberal values.

Simkovicova, a member of the far-right pro-Russian SNS party, has fired the leadership of cultural institutions, overseen the overhaul of the public broadcaster, criticized art as too liberal and promised to stop funding LGBT educational projects.

“We are facing recalls, dismissals, intimidation, threats and harassment at work,” said the Kulturny Strajk! (Culture Strike!) initiative, led by the Otvorena Kultura (Open Culture) movement, which says it represents 340 organisations and 1,900 people from the creative sector.

“The department’s leadership threatens individuals who refuse to succumb to the preferred ideological perspective.”

She said the first step in her action was a strike alert, which could be followed by a full strike.

The Culture Ministry told the TASR news agency on Thursday that it respects the right to strike, but added that cultural figures should respect the democratic mandate of the ministry’s leadership.

Fico supported Simkovicova, who last month fired the directors of the National Gallery and the National Theatre, citing management failures. She has spoken out against “liberal-progressive” ideas and in favour of traditional culture and national sovereignty.

The SNS, a minority member of Fico’s ruling coalition, has also pushed for a law, currently in parliament, that would require non-governmental organisations receiving foreign donations to register as “foreign-supported organisations”, echoing a similar law that Hungary scrapped after EU criticism.

The party also proposes to ban “propaganda” in favor of “non-traditional” sexual orientation and the display of rainbow flags in public buildings.

(Reporting by Jan Lopatka in Prague; editing by Philippa Fletcher)