Zagreb Mayor Tomislav Tomasevic said on Thursday that he had decided to dismiss the steering council of Zagreb's Child and Youth Protection Centre after a court injunction ordering a web portal to stop publishing articles about the head of that city institution, Gordana Buljan-Flander.

Tomasevic told an impromptu news conference that he had no powers to dismiss the head of the centre, Buljan-Flander.

“The city administration is against the practice of any city institution, company or office asking courts to order media outlets to stop reporting critically about them,” said the mayor.

“We will dismiss the members of the steering council who represent the City as soon as possible and appoint the new ones,” he added.

The city administration has recently requested that an internal control be conducted about alleged wrongdoings in the center.

The mayor today also called on the Health Ministry to carry out expert supervision of the center.

After the H-alter web portal in the past few weeks ran a series of articles by reporter Jelena Jindra problematising the work of the Zagreb centre and its head Buljan Flander, Zagreb Municipal Court judge Andrija Krivak issued an injunction ordering H-alter to stop publishing articles about Buljan-Flander.

The Croatian Journalists Association (HND) and Croatian Journalists Union (SNH) called the injunction “an attempt at censorship and media silencing” on Thursday.