The disgruntled workers said the telephone conversation with Linic ended up with him hanging up on them. Dina workers' representative Predrag Mihaljevic told reporters that Minister Linic was very upset with the protesters and hung up on them because he believes that their accusations that Linic was responsible for the Dioki collapse were unfounded.

After that Mihaljevic said he received a call from Economy Minister Ivan Vrdoljak who invited Dioki representatives for talks in the economy ministry where they would be received by Vrdoljak's deputy Tamara Obradovic Mazal and Alen Leveric, who is expected to step into office as deputy minister in early March. The protesters decided that their representatives would go for talks in the economy ministry and they would continue to bloc traffic at the Ilica-Frankopanska intersection.

The protesters demanded definition of the status of Dioki and Dina Petrokemija, resumption of production where possible, and purchase of land on the island of Krk for an LNG terminal so that unpaid wages and severance packages for 720 workers could be paid.

According to one of the workers, Bojan Kovacic, workers claim about HRK 120,000 on average in unpaid wages per person.

"We want our claims settled before bankruptcy proceedings," he told reporters, recalling that 300 workers had signed contracts under which their employment was terminated on January 1 while another 120 workers have continued working and the company owes them nine monthly salaries.

The protesting Dioki workers were joined by their colleagues from Dina Petrokemija, whose leader Mihaljevic said about 50 workers had not received their wages for eight months now.