"Discrimination based on political affiliation is unacceptable and calls for a reaction from everyone in society who influences public opinion," Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic told N1 television on Wednesday, in reference to Index.hr news website which created a human verification pop-up asking visitors to confirm whether they are human or "members of HDZ."

Bozinovic added that “such a trend could be dangerous for society,” and that the Index move was in line with a Facebook post by a cafe owner in Rijeka last week who said that HDZ members are not welcome in his establishment.

“It’s not about the person, it’s about the message. He believes the national Covid response team is responsible, we are used to that. However, when you discriminate against a group based on political affiliation, that’s unacceptable. It calls for a reaction from everyone in society who influences public opinion. This should be made clear because such a trend can be dangerous for society,” Bozinovic told N1 television.

Asked if that was punishable, he said that “there are laws and institutions in Croatia which deal with that.”

When he said that “the HDZ has never discriminated against anyone,” the interviewer reminded him of his statement from last year that refugees and migrants were not the same.

“In Syria there was a war and the people coming to the border from Syria at that time could definitely be considered and were refugees from war zones. As for the others, they are economic migrants, there’s no discrimination there. In the end, there is international law and the right to international protection,” Bozinovic said.

According to Bozinovic – himself a member of HDZ – everyone drawing a parallel was obfuscating the main point. “Here there was a clear message that members and sympathisers of one party are not welcome somewhere in Croatia, which absolutely deserves total condemnation.”

Bozinovic went on to say that local authorities were involved in the creation of Covid-19 restrictions and that they “stood behind, even demanded” the closure of bars, “yet now they are hiding behind the decisions of the national (Covid response) team and releasing a message which could be very bad for all of society.”

It’s not about an individual, but certain events have elicited reactions, he said. “HDZ members are also frustrated by everything that is going on.”

Speaking of yesterday’s crowds for vaccination against Covid, Bozinovic said it “passed well” and showed that more and more citizens wanted to be vaccinated.

Bozinovic said he would not comment on cases of out-of-turn vaccinations after local media reported several cases of public officials securing vaccinations for themselves and their family members even though they were not in the health ministry’s designated priority groups.

“There’s a Health Ministry commission which is investigating that,” Bozinovic replied.