The leader of the HDZ party in Zagreb, Mislav Herman, said on Wednesday that Zagreb was nearing the "Naples scenario" with the protest of Zagreb's Cistoca public sanitation company's workers, blaming Mayor Tomislav Tomasevic for the situation.

Herman was speaking at a news conference he held on behalf of the opposition HDZ/HSLS group in the Zagreb City Assembly ahead of the assembly’s session set for 26 January.

Alluding to the mayor, Herman said that “the one who fought for green policies and workers’ rights as a true leftist has turned into the worst tyrant of workers.”

“This whole show is due to Tomasevic – a green activist, expert on green policies, and the whole city administration, which forcibly introduced a new system of charges for mixed municipal waste without having done anything to improve the infrastructure,” said Herman.

He said that citizens were forced to sort more waste while there was no infrastructure to take in more types of waste and no sufficient labour.

The HDZ/HSLS group also criticised Deputy Mayor Danijela Dolenec’s statement about plans to hire agency workers to work on waste disposal if the strike continued, calling it an empty threat.

Herman also criticised plans to increase water charges in Zagreb by 15%, to be discussed at tomorrow’s City Assembly session, saying that it was irresponsible to make citizens pay  higher water charges amid the financial crisis.

Also today, HDZ MP Krunoslav Katicic claimed in the parliament that the dysfunctional relationship between the Mozemo! party and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Zagreb has caused the strike of the city sanitation workers.

“The activist-populist platform Mozemo!, with the blessing of the SDP in Zagreb, has forcibly introduced the new model of charges for municipal waste removal, but nothing has changed except for the colour of waste bags,” he said.