Zagreb HDZ chief attacks Lika protest: “I reject double standards”

Ivan Matijević, head of the Zagreb branch of Croatia’s HDZ, says he will not join Saturday’s “Walk for Lika, Walk for Croatia” protest. His reason, he says, is a double standard over waste disposal.

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I fight, and I will continue to fight, for waste management and the remediation of all landfills. But if we are fighting waste in my Lika, then we must fight it equally in my Zagreb.

Matijević presents himself in the statement as a Lika native who lives in Zagreb. He argues that the protest will focus on waste problems in Lika while saying nothing about hazardous-waste sites in the capital, including Savica and Jakuševec. He also criticizes what he describes as the halt of pollution measurements in Zagreb’s water and soil.

“I fight, and I will continue to fight, for waste management and the remediation of all landfills. But if we are fighting waste in my Lika, then we must fight it equally in my Zagreb,” Matijević said.

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I am not going because I reject double standards.

The Zagreb HDZ statement also directly targets Mayor Tomislav Tomašević. Matijević says someone who once presented himself as an expert on waste and landfill remediation should show greater responsibility. He claims Tomašević declared himself not responsible after becoming mayor.

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Tomašević’s failure to act

Matijević contrasts Gospić and Zagreb, saying Lika is being pressed for urgent action even though remediation has already been contracted, while remediation in Zagreb has not been prepared. “I am not going because I reject double standards,” he said, accusing silence of shielding “Tomašević’s failure to act.” He concluded that the gathering was not an environmental protest but “a party stage,” because its messages allegedly omit Zagreb’s waste problem and the role of Možemo and SDP in the capital.

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a party stage