Croatians protest controversial judge as the country's new state attorney

Описание: (17 Feb 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Zagreb - 17 February 2024
1. Wide of protesters gathered in St. Mark’s Square
2. Various of protesters carrying signs with anti-government slogans
3. Close of sign held up by protester showing pictures of Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic
4. Various of protesters with anti-government banners
5. Opposition MP Sandra Bencic speaking on stage
6. SOUNDBITE (Croatian) Sandra Bencic, opposition lawmaker:
"Even though they stole everything from us, we were not robbed of hope, hope that this country can be better. They didn’t steal our resistance.”
7. Various of crowd chanting slogans against Plenkovic and HDZ party and holding up anti-government slogans
8. SOUNDBITE (Croatian) Lidija, Professor of Croatian:
“I feel like all the government institutions are so corrupt and plundered that what we need is really resetting things back to square one - and that can only happen through elections.”
9. Crowd chanting “HDZ thieves!”
10. SOUNDBITE (Croatian) Aleksandra, pensioner from Zagreb:
"The government is bad, corrupt, negative, they just steal. I have a small pension, I can’t survive on that because of them. But really I’m here because of my children.”
11. Protesters in crowd applauding
12. SOUNDBITE (Croatian) Bozo Kovacevic, political analyst from Zagreb:
“I came to support this protest against autocracy of Andrej Plenkovic and the parliamentary dictatorship run by HDZ, which relies on a paper thin majority by only a single MP.”
13. Wide of protesters
STORYLINE:
Thousands of people rallied in Croatia's capital on Saturday, accusing the ruling center-right party of corruption and demanding that this year's parliamentary election be held as soon as possible.

The gathering in Zagreb was organized by 11 center and left-leaning opposition parties, with political tensions in the European Union member nation rising.

Croatia is set to hold both parliamentary and presidential elections in 2024, as well as those for the European Parliament in early June.

The dates for the domestic votes have not been determined yet.

The opposition parties want the parliamentary vote held immediately.

They have lodged a formal demand to dissolve Croatia's parliament amid a row over the election of the country's new state attorney.

Powerful Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic has defended the recent appointment of former judge Ivan Turudic to the post despite reports of his communication with people involved in corruption.

Plenkovic and his nationalist Croatian Democratic Union have ruled Croatia for years.

The country joined the EU in 2013, following an era of wars and crisis, and last year Croatia joined Europe's visa-free travel zone and single currency market.

Government opponents at Saturday's rally — the biggest against Plenkovic in years — waved flags and posters showing a clenched first and reading “It's enough!"

The crowd booed and jeered at the mention of the prime minister and his party, shouting “go!” and “elections now!”

Croatia, a nation of some 3.8 million people, remains one of the poorest economies in the EU, surviving largely on tourism along the country's beautiful Adriatic Sea coast line that attracts millions of visitors every year.

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