He says that the project would cover the beach in concrete.
Zoran Maksan, a well-known and award-winning innovator from Biograd, protested on Tuesday at the Primorje beach, located between Biograd and Sveti Filip and Jakov, against plans to cover it with concrete which is, according to him and his supporters from the Biograd Eco-Club, a plan by the Biograd local authorities, reports Slobodna Dalmacija on December 14, 2016.
With the help of aluminium foil, Maksan printed words “STOP CONCRETE” on the beach, and he sent several loud messages to the town authorities. “Above the beach, which has always looked like this, there are plots mainly of locals who have vineyards. Boundary walls were built there, and now the plan is for a 15 metre wide road to be constructed here by filling the sea. That is simply an idiocy and fascism, I do not have anything nicer to say about it. This is also a site of a Roman villa and a port, in the sea there is a preserved ancient wall, some people studied it with the intention to revitalize it, to present it… And now there is strong pressure for houses to expand to this area and we are outraged about it. Why? If someone asks me why, I do not know what to say to that. It is the same as if you were to cover a beautiful woman with tar, that’s what is going on with this beach here”, says Maksan.
He says that, when the initiative was announced, a group of citizens responded first with a petition signed by about 400 residents of Biograd. Then the Biograd Eco-Club, one of the first such associations in the former Yugoslavia, organized a protest on the beach to further raise awareness among the public.
“They push such idea through legal mechanisms which they know how to use very well, and our Dalmatian defiant spirit is completely absent. With regards to a previous petition when we wanted to prevent the construction of a hotel in a forest park in Soline, my two best friends told me: ‘I would not bother with that’, and ‘Mayor allows me to defer my payments.’ And that is the reason why they have control over grandchildren of people who 70 years ago defeated the then greatest world power. We must oppose this, for us and our children. Dalmatians have been turned into plants that everyone can rape as they want, and to orgy with concrete in the name of some alleged progress just so five concessionaires would have their private sea”, said Maksan.
He adds he is not interested in who is making such plans because he considers them to be completely unacceptable.
“By what right can we cover with concrete the coast that we have inherited from our ancestors? By the right of some small interest group? Dalmatians used to be hungry and thirsty, but they still protected some of their vital interests, they did not give up. And we now take off our pants in front of everyone. A foreigner wants to have a sandy beach? They cannot, because these are stone beaches! And some people are coming here just for the stone. Why should everyone in Europe brand same beaches and put concrete on their coasts? I hope that people will react and prevent this”, concluded Maksan.
