President Zoran Milanovic on Saturday commented on a protest in Zagreb against COVID restrictions, saying that it represented democracy but that the fact that the protesters stood outside nursing homes was idiocy and disastrous.

He was responding to questions from the press on Rab island if the rally in Zagreb was a festival of democracy, as the participants claimed, and if he considered any restrictions contentious.

“From day one we have been saying that the elderly and the sick are the ones we must care for, not teenagers, or my generation. To go outside retirement homes and say that corona is child’s play, which I saw they did, is a disaster… If they are protesting against masks, that’s okay.”

Speaking of restrictions, he said, “One should be more disciplined than usual, that’s the only measure.”Asked what he would tell people who claimed that coronavirus did not exist, Milanovic said ironically that they were “very fine people.”

Asked what would happen if the virus entered kindergartens and schools, he said children and youth were the least at risk. “It’s time they finally go to school because this has been going on too long.”