February the 17th, 2024 – The protest against Plenkovic on Markov trg (St. Mark’s Square) in the heart of Zagreb today has drawn to a close.
As Index writes, as announced recently, a protest against Plenkovic was organised by eleven parliamentary parties of the left-liberal opposition was held today on St. Mark’s Square under the title “Enough is enough! Time for elections”. They demanded an end to alleged corruption, crime, robbery and HDZ’s usurpation of power, as well as the immediate calling of elections.
The left-liberal opposition was united and raised to its feet by the appointment of Ivan Turudić as the chief state attorney, who they allege is a HDZ man who hangs out with the criminal milieu, lies and evidently gave information from investigations to people he wasn’t supposed to.
People who joined the protest against Plenkovic filled St. Mark’s Square, and the streets leading to the square from the main square and its adjoining streets were also crowded. As we wrote yesterday, Split Mayor Ivica Puljak even organised transport from Split to Zagreb for all those who wanted to partake in the protest against Plenkovic, citing the changes that are possible for Croatia, as he has implemented them down in Split.
Plenkovic reacts to the protest, deeming the messages vulgar and primitive
As Index vijesti/news reports, despite this going on, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic participated in the ceremony of launching the Gradnja (Build) 527 ship at Rijeka’s Treci Maj shipyard, after which he made statements to the media regarding the protest in Zagreb.
“I didn’t follow the protest because I was in Munich this morning and then I went to Krk. I roughly understand what it’s about. First of all, Croatia is a democratic country and its people say and think what they want, as long as it’s legal. But, the way I see this is that it was a gathering of the radical left, which has been in the opposition for eight years, and those who support them. I don’t know how many people there were. The messages being given there were once again vulgar and primitive,” said Plenkovic, adding:
“This is the result of Zoran Milanovic’s style of primitivism and savagery, which he started more than four years ago. It means that any and every scumbag thinks they can insult everyone with the most rude disqualifications they can come up with. If they’re still connecting President Franjo Tuđman, today’s HDZ and the government I lead, I’m glad and proud.
This means that this left-wing gathering showed that we have two political Croatias, the Croatia that works and gets up early to work in the interests of Croatia… Don’t forget that the same people who invited people to St. Mark’s Square are the same ones who were against the Croatian Language Act and were also against supporting Ukraine. I’m really interested in what they think about the murder of Navalny and the elimination of all opposition politicians before the elections in March. All of them, except the Social Democrats, were for Vladimir Putin, not Ukraine. They didn’t want to help the Ukrainian people.”
Plenkovic then praised his government – again
The PM reiterated everything he sees as his government’s successes, from economic moves, earthquake reconstruction, increases in pensions and wages, and so on.
“I can understand this protest, but let’s put the facts on the table before anything else. What is this protest against exactly? I don’t agree with those groups that were against helping Ukraine, even less with those that voted against the Croatian Language Act. If you fail such exams, and you’re a Croat… Well… who are you, who do you stand for, and in whose interests? Democracy yes, protests yes, insults – no,” said Plenkovic.
There were also many people from the general public at the protest against Plenkovic, not only politicians wanting to stir the pot.
“I don’t know who was there,” Plenkovic said briefly.
“The elections will be on time and, I must admit, this is actually getting ridiculous. We’ve been in power for eight years and the left wants to do everything it can to make sure that we don’t stay put for 12 years. They can deceive and lie to people and say that we’re thieves, that we’re corrupt, that our characters are ugly… But we can also hold microphones ourselves and say what is true, and the truth is that there’s no national interest that this government has not completely strengthened,” concluded Plenkovic.
