ZAGREB, April 8, 2018 – Several hundred residents of the eastern city of Slavonski Brod on Saturday rallied for a peaceful protest to warn once again of the problem of air pollution in the town as well as a recent water pollution incident, saying that their fight was one for a life in dignity and that they would stage a protest in Zagreb on April 14.
Last Wednesday, a pipeline running through the area of Slavonski Brod burst during testing and oil products started leaking out. Two days later, an analysis at the Slavonski Brod water supply plant established that the water was polluted.
The works were part of measures taken to supply gas to an oil refinery in Bosanski Brod across the Sava river in Bosnia and Herzegovina and to reduce the air pollution the refinery is causing in Slavonski Brod.
An investigation into the environmental incident is under way and local residents have been told not to drink tap water.
“We have had enough. When will the problem of air pollution be solved? When will the modernisation of the refinery be launched? What are the consequences of the water pollution incident, if there was an incident? The contradictory information we have been receiving about this terrifies us. We don’t know any longer if we can wash ourselves, brush our teeth or bathe our children. What will happen with our children? People who get paid to solve problems like this one should be doing their job. We are here to make them do it. We are their employers,” said Dalibor Vašarević of a local civic group.
