The HND journalists associations on Thursday strongly condemned a verbal attack on an N1 television crew and the head of Zagreb's Hospital for Infectious Diseases, Alemka Markotic.

The incident took place in Zagreb on Wednesday evening when reporter Matea Dominikovic was about to interview Alemka Markotic for N1 television channel’s news bulletin. Two young people stopped next to the television crew and their guest and started yelling, threatening them and hurling insults at them. The man, as reported by N1, at one point told his Doberman dog: “Sit here, wait for attack.”

Journalists, together with health experts, are currently a source of information the public seeks, and this was not just an attack on them as individuals but also an act of restricting the public’s right to information, the HND said.

It added that it was the right of every citizen to express their opinion but the attack that happened yesterday had nothing to do with that.

For years the HND has been protesting against inappropriate and sometimes even shameful behaviour toward our colleagues, which stems primarily from public figures, most often politicians. It has also for years called on authorities to react and publicly condemn such acts, the HND said in the press release.

It recalled that the European Commission had recently found in its rule of law report that journalists in Croatia faced numerous threats, including hate speech, death threats and physical attacks, and that authorities often failed to react to those attacks in a timely or appropriate manner.

The HND calls for the protection of its colleagues and the professional dignity of those they cooperate with to inform the public, the press release said.