After two hours of drama, the police managed to convince the man to climb down from a high pillar.
An incident occurred today near the Porin asylum-seeker reception centre in Zagreb. At around noon, a man climbed a nearby pillar with a noose around his head, threatening to commit suicide, reports Index.hr on 14 July 2017.
“We have received information that a person has climbed a pillar. We were informed about it at noon, and emergency services, police, and fire-fighters responded immediately,” said the police present at the scene.
Anita Dakić, head of the Porin accommodation centre, confirmed that the person in question was one of their residents. She did not want to give the man’s identity while the police did not complete its work. The reasons why the man has decided on such a move are not yet known.
Katarina Zorić from the Red Cross gave some additional information. “We know this person. He is from Iraq and has been included in our programme called Psychosocial Support. This is a programme that we regularly conduct, and it involves individual and group discussions with residents of the centre. This man has participated in them, and my colleagues tell me that he is a reasonable and peaceful man who did not show that he was prepared for such radical moves. However, I think everyone can understand that it is not easy to live in a shelter,” said Zorić.
About 2 pm, several fire-fighters, a police officer and a translator, reached the asylum-seeker with a crane. After talking with him for about half an hour, they managed to persuade him to come down with them.
Still, the drama continued on the ground. One female asylum-seeker started shouting something in an unknown language. About a dozen other asylum seekers gathered around the journalists, but since they did not speak English, it was difficult to comprehend what they wanted to say.
According to unofficial information, the Iraqi is seeking political asylum. He is apparently very upset about his status in Croatia since he has allegedly been waiting for the second asylum interview for a year.
