Croatia: Join the human wall

The Pravo na grad (Right to a City) initiative and Zelena akcija (Green Action) invite the citizens to join the `Zagreb Human Wall` to defend the historic Floral Square (Cvjetni Trg) from the devastation threatened by the Hoto Group of entrepreneur Tomislav Horvatincic, which last Thursday started the activities on the demolition of the building of the former printing press in the yard of a building located on the Square.

“It marked, illegally and with the support by the competent Government ministries, the implementation of a totally unacceptable project that is opposed by the signatures of 54,000 citizens of Zagreb. The Hoto Group started the demolition without a valid permit, and the Ministry of Environment, Spatial Planning and Construction failed to act on its prerogatives under the Law on Spatial Planning and Construction to prevent the works”, say the two associations.

The two organizations have proven that the printing press building can`t be demolished until the permit is legally valid, i.e. until the related administrative appeal procedures are completed. That same day (September 8), two different bodies of the Ministry, the Spokesperson and the Inspectorate of Construction, reacted with two totally opposed legal interpretations, based on provisions of two different laws, noting that the investor should continue demolition without the valid permit.

“It is a shame for the Ministry to rule that Hoto can continue the work, without knowing where in the Law it is prescribed”, believe Pravo na Grad and Zelena Akcija. The printing press building is not a protected object, but its demolition is unacceptable, nonetheless, add the associations.

They note that the state has obviously taken the side of the private investor, in blatant disregard of the Law, so that the associations expect similar decisions in the later stages of the project. For that reason, they invite the citizens to offer active resistance and join the Zagreb Human Wall to defend the pedestrian area in Varšavska Street and the two protected cultural monuments on the Square.