Around a hundred activists of the non-governmental organisations Zelena Akcija (Green Action) and Pravo Na Grad (Right to the City), joined by residents of Zagreb, on Monday tore down construction fences erected in the morning around a pedestrian zone in the city's Varsavska Street where a garage entrance within a private project by HOTO Group is to be built.
The protesters, who gathered early in the morning after the beginning of construction work in Varsavska Street, were shouting "We won't give Varsavska", "Bandic - Resign!" and "Thieves".
The city office for urban planning said that reconstruction work on a part of Varsavska Street began this morning with the erection of a construction fence, with the purpose of building the entrance to an underground garage within the apartment building "Cvjetni prolaz" and the accompanying infrastructure.
When asked why he was disregarding recommendations by the City Assembly that he agree with the investor on the disputable garage entrance, Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandic said that he could not decide on who would be allowed to build and who would not.
The head of the city office for urban planning, Davor Jelavic, said that construction work on the underground garage had started because the protesting activists had exhausted "all legal remedies" since the Ministry of Environmental Protection, Physical Planning and Construction had rejected all their appeals.
Commenting on the case, the Ministry issued a statement on a recent decision to allow temporary occupation of public space in Varsavska Street for the purpose of construction work, saying that complaints from the protesting NGOs were unfounded because shortcomings identified in an earlier decision on the case had been removed in the meantime.
