A total of 26 activists were apprehended for disturbing the peace, according to police, during a protest on Saturday outside the LNG terminal in Omisalj on Krk island against the expansion of its capacity.

Primorje-Gorski Kotar County police said the action was also being taken to establish the responsibility of the protest’s organiser.

The Extinction Rebellion Zagreb NGO said the protest brought together activists from the Adriatic Climate Camp, which is taking place on Krk island, and the local population who are against, according to the NGO, the harmful capacity expansion project.

A self-organised group of activists entered the terminal’s premises despite attempts by the police to stop them with water cannons, the NGO said, adding that the activists displayed banners saying ‘Climate activism is not a crime’, ‘Record LNG profits – record droughts, forest fires, floods, heat waves and deaths’ and ‘Our time is running out’.

“After the safety of the activists was endangered due to aggressiveness of security officers, the activists exited the premises. The police then apprehended about 30 activists,” the NGO said.

One of the NGO’s activists, Suncica Lazanski, said they gathered because they “refuse to peacefully watch corrupt politicians adopt decisions which are fatal for the climate” such as “megalomaniacal” investments in the expansion of the LNG terminal on Krk.

The protesters also gathered, she said, because climate science clearly says that exploitation of fossil fuels worsens the climate crisis, whose effects are increasingly evident.