A group of war veterans who have been protesting outside the veterans’ affairs ministry for about seven months sit inside a church yesterday in Zagreb. The veterans have been demanding better status, including improved social and medical care, jobs and other benefits.
AFP/Zagreb
Scores of Croatian war veterans who had taken refuge in a Zagreb church left peacefully yesterday after the government agreed to hold discussions with them about their benefits.
Escorted by police, veterans from Croatia’s 1990s independence war left St Mark’s church in the city centre and marched through the capital towards the ministry where they have been camped out in protest for months.
“We decided to accept (Prime Minister Zoran) Milanovic’s offer and will meet with him on Monday,” Djuro Glogoski, head of a veterans association, told reporters.
Glogoski, himself in a wheelchair due to war injuries, was among the protesters who spent the night in the church.
The veterans seek namely the resignation of the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs Predrag Matic, claiming that he has failed to protect their rights.
The country of 4.2mn people includes about 500,000 veterans from the conflict.
It spends some €800,000 ($880,000) yearly on covering their benefits.
The men’s sit-in began on Thursday at the square in front of St Mark’s church and the government seat, as they were seeking to meet with Milanovic.
But, police late on Thursday sealed off the area and 150 officers tried to force up to 100 veterans to leave, saying that protests could not go on after 10pm (2000 GMT).
The demonstrators, including many veterans maimed in the war, then took shelter in the church under the protection of priests.
Yesterday another 200 veterans arrived near the square to support their comrades in the church.
About 50 of the veterans managed to break the police cordon after clashing with officers and run to the church, images broadcast by state-run HRT television showed.
The protesters barricaded in St Mark’s were part of a group of veterans who have been camped out in protest since October in front of the veterans’ ministry, in central Zagreb.
They are angered by alleged potential cuts to their benefits and say they want better social protections.
Earlier yesterday Milanovic assured that the veterans’ benefits were “not cut, but rather preserved in this difficult economic situation, sometimes even increased”.
“We don’t need such tension,” the prime minister told a press conference, adding that he was “ready for a dialogue, next week.”
He stressed that he rejected any ultimatum.
