ZAGREB, Oct 14, 2020 – Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Wednesday that Monday’s Zagreb Square shooting, when a 22-year-old man opened fire at policemen protecting Government House, hinted at radicalization, which should make institutions and the society think about the motives and reasons for that act.
“This is a serious situation that should make institutions and all of us as a society think why this happened,” Plenkovic told a news conference at the government in reference to Monday morning’s shooting in St Mark’s Square when a police officer sustained serious injuries and the 22-year-old gunman later committed suicide.
This is something that crossed the line and brought us into a situation in which we are supposed to change the security frameworks for the work of the government and media coverage in St. Mark’s Square, said the premier.
The whole society needs to ask itself what has led to this radicalization and why, and this is an act of radicalization, Plenkovic said.
The behavior of that 22-year-old man was definitely impacted by the information to which he was exposed, and he was also under the influence of somebody, sources which prompted him to try to kill (policemen). We will see who is responsible for that, Plenkovic said.
He underscored that at this moment he could not point an accusing finger at anyone. However, he said, society should ask who incites hatred in the political life of Croatia.
Even after this shooting, “persons like (Vukovar Mayor) Ivan Penava and Mrs. Karolina Vidovic Kristo (a Homeland Movement parliamentarian) are capable of making statements which deserve full condemnation, which are unacceptable, and unbelievable in the political sense, and which do not contribute to the culture of tolerance and normal behavior in a law-based society,” Plenkovic said.
He called on media actors that incite hatred to start behaving responsibly, referring to “those that incite hatred between Croatians and the Serb minority in their broadcasts.”
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