A Walk for Life and a Walk for Freedom were held in Rijeka on Saturday, with participants in the former asking that the abortion law be changed to protect life from conception to natural death and those in the latter underlining the need for gender equality, freedom of choice and women's empowerment.

The Walk for Life drew some 200 participants, who carried banners which said “Don’t stop my heartbeat! Just give me love”, “Every human being has the right to life” and “Life begins at conception”.

One of the participants, Katarina Štambuk, called for adopting a law on conception which would protect the right to life as well as respect and empower women.

Two in three women abort due to their financial situation or are forced by someone to do so, she said, adding that abortion is not a human right.

The Walk for Life unites the Croatian people, not polarise it, said Ante Bekavac, coordinator of the march in Rijeka. Unborn children are the weakest individuals of our society and should be protected, he added.

The Walk for Freedom, held nearby in protest, also drew some 200 participants under the slogan “We won’t yield” who underlined the importance of protecting freedoms, the right to autonomy and women’s empowerment.

One of the participants, Jelena Androić, said freedom meant gender equality, autonomy and choice, and that they should be safeguarded.

Greta Grakalić Rački, another participant, said those who jeopardised freedom had started praying in city squares for even stronger repression.

Another participant, Zoran Grozdanov, said the participants in Walk for Life marches and the prayers in city squares “are weaponising faith for a war against those who don’t act, think or believe as they do.”

“The world we want and advocate is a world of freedom, where people will be free to decide whether to abort or not, whether they will assume a social gender role or not,” he added.