Croat opposition demands election as thousands rally at anti-government protests

Thousands gathered in the centre of Zagreb on Saturday to join a protest organised by left-wing and centrist parliamentary parties, both opposing the policies of ruling HDZ leader and Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and calling for early parliamentary elections.

The SDP, Možemo organised the protest, the Social Democrats and Radnička Fronta, as well as seven other smaller parliamentary parties, in St. Mark’s Square, where parliament and the prime minister’s office are located, to express their opposition to the appointment of Ivan Turudić as the state prosecutor, but also to the policies of ruling HDZ leader and Prime Minister Andrej Plenković.

They also called for urgent parliamentary elections, which will be held in Croatia this year.

Meanwhile, right-wing parties, including Most, were not invited to join the protests.

While these parties also oppose Plenković’s policy, they demand that the government more actively defend Croatia’s and the EU’s borders against illegal migrants, which, according to Most, was the main reason why they were not included in the protest’s organisation.

Nikola Grmoja, an MP from Most, called the protest “left-wing” and said that the left-liberal parties were playing into the hands of the ruling HDZ.

From the protest “Enough! It’s time for the elections,” said Sandra Benčić, coordinator of the left-green party Možemo, calling on citizens not to emigrate to Germany and Ireland, and to stay and vote instead.

“You are not the ones who should leave. The only ones who should leave are Andrej Plenković and the HDZ,” Benčić said.

“Enough of tyranny lies, and corruption, enough of HDZ”, said SDP president Peđa Grbin.

Far-left Radnička fronta party leader Katarina Peović compared Plenković to Karoly Khuen-Hedervary, who ruled Croatia with an iron fist as prime minister from 1883 to 1903. Croatia was then an autonomous part of the Hungarian half of Austria-Hungary, the Habsburg Empire.

Peović said that Plenković succeeded in what Khuen-Hedervary did not, which was to “evict every sixth Croat”.

The protestors, who filled St Mark’s Square, carried banners reading “Enough!” and called for this year’s parliamentary elections to be held early.

They also accuse HDZ of “enslaving” independent institutions, corruption and nepotism. They also protested against the appointment of Turudić as chief prosecutor.

Plenković, who was visiting the Treći Maj shipyard in Rijeka at the time of the protest in front of his office in the centre of Zagreb, said that the protestors were a “group of the radical left”, which sent “vulgar and primitive” messages.

“The same people who invited people to St. Mark’s Square are the same ones who were against the Law on the Croatian Language and against military aid to Ukraine”, Plenković stressed.

(Adriano Milovan | Euractiv.hr)