The Mayor of Zagreb, Tomislav Tomasevic, has condemned a racist attack on employees of the Rimac Automobili company, which occurred in central Zagreb on Friday night, saying that there should be no place for violence in the city.

“I strongly condemn the racist attack on employees of Rimac Automobili. There must be no place for violence in our city, especially not for violence motivated by hatred of those who are different on any grounds,” Tomasevic wrote on his Facebook on Sunday evening.

“An attack on people of colour is an attack on all of us. That’s why I expect the police to identify the attackers and punish them for this hate crime. Despite some hateful individuals, Zagreb will remain an open and hospitable city,” the mayor said.

The owner of Rimac Automobili, Mate Rimac, said on Saturday that a group of young men had assaulted his colleagues near the Croatian National Theatre on Friday night. He said that the attackers first verbally abused his employees and then physically attacked them, as a result of which one of them suffered a broken nose and another a mild concussion.

The police are investigating the incident.

“We appeal on everyone to understand, if we want to be world leaders in this and other industries, that means we need to draw in talent from all over the world. People who will bring unique knowledge and experience that do not exist here, help us grow the company and pass that specific knowledge on to their local colleagues. We need to understand that those people are not taking anyone’s jobs. In fact, they are contributing to a faster and better growth of local companies and thus offer additional opportunities and jobs to the local population,” said Martina Verovic, the head of the Bugatti Rimac HR department. “We want to make all our employees – who came here from more than 35 countries around the world – feel safe and comfortable in Croatia, as they feel in our company. We ask our neighbours to welcome them as well. We hope this incident will not have a lasting effect on the people who have come to build their life in Croatia. We also hope the police will do thier job quickly and successfully.”