The head of the Croatian People's Party (HNS) branch in Zagreb, Zeljko Uhlir, said on Monday that Zagreb was being run irresponsibly with regard to earthquake protection and noted that "the arrogant and ignorant city government should leave as soon as possible and stop putting people's lives at risk."

Speaking at a news conference outside Zagreb’s “Jure Kastelan” primary school, Uhlir, a state secretary at the Construction Ministry, said that at stake were children who attended classes in buildings that had not been thoroughly inspected.

Uhlir claims that red, yellow and green labels, which show the degree of earthquake damage on a building and if it can be used, were given after quick inspections, noting that schools should be checked thoroughly and separate decisions on whether they are safe be made for each building “instead of making phone calls and pressuring principals into opening schools.”

Asked about messages from the city government that schools in the capital are safe, Uhlir said: “When someone says that they are safe, and that person’s boss has 270 criminal reports filed against himself, I would not trust anyone in the city government. Don’t show me labels, show me expert analyses, signatures by authorised engineers and proof that school buildings have been thoroughly inspected,” he said.

Uhlir stressed that in Zagreb budget funds were spent for purposes other than designated in a situation when serious work was required to help citizens and protect them.

He stressed that a Facebook group had made Mayor Milan Bandic remove hazards from streets because children started school today after the winter break.

That is why there was chaos in the whole city on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, half the city was closed to traffic due to cranes that were removing dangerous elements from buildings, he said.

Commenting on corridors that have been introduced overnight in Zagreb to protect children walking to school, Uhlir said that that was the only possibility at the moment and noted that everything could have been done much earlier.

Asked how, as a state secretary and one of the authors of the Act on the Post-Earthquake Reconstruction, he commented on the large number of documents citizens applying for housing reconstruction have to collect, Uhlir said that city services must help citizens in collecting those documents.

“When you must justify expenses in the amount of HRK 40 billion, each kuna must be accounted for and it must be clear who is being given funds and on what grounds,” he said.

Uhlir believes the reconstruction in Zagreb and in Zagreb and Krapina-Zagorje counties would start soon as the Fund for the Post-Earthquake Reconstruction was about to start operating.