While the fires surrounding Split may have been put out, the fires in the hearts of many angry citizens continue to burn.
Split Gori (Split Burns) is an organized protest which will be held tomorrow, July 24, 2017, on Split’s West Coast Riva, across from Banovina. Created by the many angry citizens who experienced the complete distrust of the government once the chaos of the fires ensued, the protest hopes to send a message to those with power to respect, protect, and secure the lives of Split citizens.
With already over 1k people marking themselves as “going” to the event on Facebook, hundreds are expected to use this opportunity to ensure their voices are heard. The protest even has the support of Split establishments such as Corto Maltese Freestyle Food and the Island Movement.
The mission statement of the protest reads:
We invite all citizens to join us in sending the joint message that Split is our city and that it is time for the quality and security of the lives of all citizens to become a priority.
The feelings that have dominated the citizens of Split over the last few days have been those of indignation and anger caused by the apparent lack of a functioning system that should know how to cope with a crisis situation, such as this great fire.
The behavior of the responsible persons who attempted to reduce the scale of the situation all of us have suffered through has further strengthened these feelings. The lack of communication between competent services and citizens, as well as the contradictory information regarding the situation at Karepovac, was the ‘drop’ that filled the glass for all of us.
Given that the statements of the responsible persons during and after the great fire on the outskirts of Split caused the permanent distrust of citizens to the system, we are organizing a protest gathering that requires:
1) The rehabilitation and systematic planning of the post-legalization settlements and eastern parts of Split in the upcoming processes of creating a new or amended GUP, where a large number of young families live today.
2) Urgent and responsible action related to Karepovec as timed bombs directly threaten the health of all citizens, according to the rules of the profession.
3) Taking responsibility for the management, organizational and communication fiasco that has led to the threats of humans and property.
We are sending out a general message of gratitude to all the firefighters, mountain rescue services, Torcida and all the citizens who took part in this firefight.
This protest is organized by a group of citizens. So far, the following organizations and individuals that have shown their support are: the Society of Architects Split, the Association for Nature, the Environment and Sustainable Development Sunce, the Youth Council of the City of Split, the Youth Chamber Platform, the Mediterranean Film Festival Split, Teserakt, Platform 9.81, Civic Initiative Split, (ROOM 100), The Island Movement, Split Cinema Club, Mavena, queerANarchive, Queer Sport Split, Youth Alternative Cultural Center, Youth Association Coalition, Green Action, KURS, KLFM Radio, MoSt Association, Ozren Čulić, Uljara Vukšić and Zajednica Dubravko Mitrović, Permaculture Dalmatia, Split Youth Club, Marjan Society, Nikolina Jurišić, MAG Association, and more.
All organizations and individuals who want to endorse their support can do so by signing up at [email protected].
The protest begins at 20:30 – will you be at Split’s West Coast tomorrow?
