Around 5,000 people rallied in downtown Zagreb on Saturday for the third March for Life, while 13 protesters against the march were arrested for trying to block the passage of the marchers by sitting down on the street.

The event was held under the slogan “Let us protect the most endangered minority in Croatia – unborn children” in support of the view that life begins with conception.

While walking towards St. Mark’s Square, where the parliament and government headquarters are located, the marchers encountered groups of protesters against the march, who carried banners with messages reading Legal and available abortion, Mistress of her own body, Young people are leaving because of you, Life after life and We demand free abortion.

Conversely, posters were put on entrances to buildings in Praska Street, which leads to Zrinjevac, reading “In memory of women who died because of doctors – conscientious objectors and unsafe abortions. Nobody is marching for them.” Some of those posters were torn up.

Asked several times by reporters if she supported a ban on abortion, the coordinator of the event, Magdalena Krpina Zdilar, repeated that the March for Life initiative was “for the protection of life from conception to natural death.”

Members of the initiative were providing for order during the march along with police, and politicians could be seen among the marchers.

March for Life held in Split

Several thousand people gathered also in the coastal city of Split for the third March for Life.

The marchers were carrying banners reading Choose life! Your mother chose it too, She can do great things… because she was allowed to be born – Equality for all women from the moment of conception, How much does an abortion cost? A human life, Human rights start when human life begins, You are pregnant, you need help, get in touch with us.

The Split marchers said it pained them to see laws that allowed abortion and that they wanted unconditional protection of human life from conception to natural death.

“Let us give women the possibility to freely have children, to not fear for their jobs. It is horrible that a 21st-century woman who wishes to have more children must worry if she will be able to raise her children and provide for them,” said Mario Vukovic, one of the organisers of the Split march.