The parliamentary left opposition on Thursday announced a protest for 17 February in Zagreb against Ivan Turudic's appointment as State Attorney-General, calling on citizens to join in and show that they do not tolerate authoritarianism and noting that the end of the HDZ's rule has begun.

SDP party leader Pedja Grbin said the protest was against “the criminal organisation that has installed as State Attorney-General a man with ties to criminal circles. A man who said very clearly today what he thinks about the functioning of the Croatian judiciary and the fight against corruption and crime, a man who would ban the work of the EPPO in Croatia and who was the candidate of the HDZ, the party that threatened us with arrests yesterday.”

Croatia is a democracy and we will not allow it to take a course similar to that of Serbia under Aleksandar Vucic he said.

“Croatia will not take that course, it can and must be better, that is why we are calling on citizens to join us for a protest against the kind of rule introduced by Andrej Plenkovic and to support our demand for elections to be called,” Grbin said.

Vidovic: Democracy must not be jeopardised

“We will show Plenkovic that, after he stole our factories, towns and everything there was to steal in this country, he did not steal our resistance. He did not divide us, he did not get two Croatias. We will show him that there is only one Croatia and that there is a society that knows how to put up resistance to institutional violence and his authoritarianism. This will be his end,” said MP Sandra Bencic (Mozemo!).

Davorkor Vidovicocial Democrats) said that democracy in Croatia was under threat and that that was the main reason for the protest.

“The 11 or 12 parties organising the protest share the notion that one must not allow the fundamental values that are the precondition of survival of a well-organised community to become jeopardised. At this moment, they are jeopardised in Croatia and we must not keep silent about it, we should put up resistance and show that citizens do not want… Croatia to become one of authoritarian communities, we can see in our neighbourhood what it can lead to,” Vidovic said.

Puljak: It’s either HDZ or Croatia

Damir Bajs (Fokus party) said that the Fokus/IDS/PGS/Reformists coalition was a co-organiser of the protest, calling on citizens to join them and show that Croatia needs change.

“We must not get a fourth HDZ government in the coming elections,” Bajs said, expressing an expectation that a large number of citizens would turn out for the protest.

Marijana Puljak (Centre) said that Turudic’s election had made many believe that this was the end of democracy, “but this is the beginning of the end of the HDZ’s rule because people have had enough, they have really taken it too far. This is the end of the rule which favours a narrow circle of people, and those who come to the protest and love this country will know what to choose – it’s either the HDZ or Croatia,” Puljak said.

Recalling what the cancellation of Zagreb Radio 101’s broadcasting licence in the early 1990s had meant, Dalija Oreskovic (SsIP) said that Plenkovic was now trying to stifle the judiciary. “Turudic’s statement that we do not need the EPPO shows that his justice will be selective, and when justice is selective, there is no justice. Let’s defend Croatia and our institutions, and build sound foundations for this country,” she said.

Emil Daus (IDS) said that Croatia should go to parliamentary elections as soon as possible and become a civic, liberal and free country in the full sense of those words.

Grbin: Left coalition not discussed

Asked if a major left-wing coalition was in the offing, Grbin said that that was not the topic of today’s talks, which focused on the protest.

Asked why then they did not invite right-wing parties to join them as co-organisers, Grbin did not give a straightforward answer, saying that they invite to the protest all citizens who want to put up resistance to the plunder and systematic destruction of Croatia and attacks against freedoms.

Asked if after the protest they could all run in the elections together, Grbin said further steps would be discussed after the protest.

Bencic said right-wing parties had not been invited because their position on Turudic was not clear, announcing that they would start collecting signatures for the dissolution of the parliament next week.

Representatives of right-wing parties said they would not attend the protest.

Bozo Petrov (Most party) said he would not attend a left election rally and that his party would continue fighting through state institutions, while Stipo Mlinaric (DP party) said he would not attend the protest either and that his party would organise a protest after the elections against the non-prosecution of war crimes.