Why is Croatia’s bishops’ conference silent on the nationwide protest? And what is Bishop Marko Medo doing and saying?

Fear has brought people from across Croatia toward Zagreb. They are preparing for a major nationwide protest driven by anxiety over their health, their lives and the future of the Lika region.

The fears extend from contaminated soil, water and air to crops, livestock and the possibility that residents will eventually leave the place where they were born, lived and hoped to raise their children. The article describes Lika as a region long known for its landscapes and for having some of Europe’s cleanest water.

It says trucks carrying waste, much of it foreign, have crossed Lika and other parts of Croatia for years. At the former Velebit agricultural and food complex in Gospić, now known as Silos, as many as 37,000 tonnes of ominous and potentially carcinogenic waste were allegedly dumped illegally. The article says the exact balance between harmless and hazardous material remains unclear.

The first reports of secretly transported and unloaded waste prompted concerned residents to establish the civic initiative Gospić je naš dom, or “Gospić Is Our Home.” The initiative’s persistent efforts brought the situation in Lika to national attention and helped organize the protest called “Walk for Lika, Walk for Croatia.”

The event is expected to draw people from across Croatia alongside residents of Zagreb. Public support and invitations to attend have grown, the article says, as more illegal waste sites come to light. It asks why the Croatian Bishops’ Conference has remained silent and what Lika Bishop Marko Medo is doing and saying as residents demand that Lika and the country be protected from uncertainty, illness and exposure to “forever chemicals.”