Festival of Freedom in Rijeka Questions COVID Measures
ZAGREB, October 11, 2020 - A three-hour rally called the Festival of Freedom was held in Rijeka on Saturday at which participants questioned coronavirus prevention measures and reiterated their demand for people's freedom.
Organisers said they were for a well-argued and comprehensive scientific debate involving experts in all fields, not just epidemiologists.
Those who think differently from the official narrative should be respected, organisers said, calling on experts to talk about the damage caused by the restrictions.
The police said about 200 people took part in the rally and that there were no incidents.
Another Freedom Festival To Be Held In Rijeka On Saturday, October 10
October 5, 2020 - After the first Zagreb Freedom Festival held on September 5, 2020, at Ban Josip Jelačić Square, Rijeka continues to open a public space questioning the precedent measures of restricting human rights and freedoms.
According to the organizers, the impact of epidemiological measures on society and the disproportionate reaction to the real danger of the SARS-CoV-2 virus will be pointed out in a peaceful and dignified manner on the Adriatic Square in Rijeka on Saturday, September 5, 2020, starting at 3 pm.
Organizers also emphasize the fact that "without a proper basis, people are prevented from being human, and children from being children, as well as the severe consequences that result from such measures."
'Encourage people to recognize the truth'
"Democratic society does not know the disappearance of human rights and freedoms, the disappearance of freedom of opinion and speech, and the ubiquitous censorship. Decisions made based on transcription, panic, and propaganda, and which often come from outside the Republic of Croatia, and are applied in the Republic of Croatia and to its citizens, must be seriously reviewed.
Propagating fear, constant sterilization of the environment, and epidermal microflora, restricting breathing and human contact, and everything natural in and around humans, is not and cannot be acceptable," stands in the statement.
As the organizers themselves say, the intention is not to offer a solution to the problem, but to encourage people to recognize the truth, because "the moment in which the truth is recognized is the solution in itself."
The first festival gathered a large number of people
Current topics at the Festival will be discussed by dr.sc. Danijel Grgičin, Ph.D. Ivan Lovrinović and Suzana Peša Vucković from the "Rights and Freedoms" initiative. Croatian singer Alen Vitasović will perform at the Festival, and DJ Ivan Mastermix will play music throughout the event.
To arrive at the Festival, bus transport will also be organized from Zagreb, Dubrovnik, Split, Makarska, Šibenik, Zadar, Varaždin, Čakovec, and from Istria and Slavonia.
It should be reminded that the first such festival held in Zagreb a month ago gathered hundreds of like-minded people, while The Croatian Medical Law Association (HUZMP) did not approve the festival, and numerous events that marked the festival, such as the one with an ambulance, were discussed in the media for a long time.
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Milanovic: Protest Is Democracy, Going To Care Homes Is Idiocy
ZAGREB, Sept 6, 2020 - President Zoran Milanovic on Saturday commented on a protest in Zagreb against COVID restrictions, saying that protest is a democracy but that the fact that the protesters stood outside nursing homes was idiocy and disastrous.
He was responding to questions from the press on Rab island if the rally in Zagreb was a festival of democracy, as the participants claimed, and if he considered any restrictions contentious.
"From day one we have been saying that the elderly and the sick are the ones we must care for, not teenagers, my generation. To go outside retirement homes and say that corona is a child's play, which I saw they did, is a disaster... If they are protesting against masks, that's okay."
Speaking of restrictions, he said, "One should be more disciplined than usual, that's the only measure."
Asked what he would tell people who claimed that coronavirus did not exist, Milanovic said ironically that they were "very fine people."
Asked what would happen if the virus entered kindergartens and schools, he said children and youth were the least at risk. "It's time they finally go to school because this has been going on too long."
Milanovic and Slovenian President Borut Pahor were on Rab for the 77th commemoration of the liberation of inmates from the Kampor fascist concentration camp.
"The banality of evil," he said of the WWII camp. "This wasn't a typical extermination camp. This was a camp where you bring Slovenians and Croats because they crossed you for some reason, not just because they are Slovenians and Croats, and leave them to die in a year, you don't feed them. That's the banality of evil. Somebody watched that, those guards, for a year."
Asked if he and Pahor discussed bilateral topics, Milanovic said, "We talk all the time... about the situation in the region, everything that goes on around us. About the right-wing in Europe. I don't mean traditional Christian values but... I don't like the words 'anti-European policy' because that means nothing, but there is a number of leaders and politicians in Europe who see the enemy in everything."
Asked if he and Pahor talked about the reopening of borders given that Slovenia put Croatia on the red list of COVID countries, Milanovic said there was a reason why Slovenia did that.
"The number of daily cases of infections increased because almost a million foreigners arrived in Croatia in July and August so that we could make money. That's not surprising. That's the price we consciously paid both as a state and as a society, and we should finally accept that... Let's not be surprised that almost a million foreigners passed through Croatia, leaving their money here, socializing, forming crowds, and that some got infected. But that's the price of the risk we were all willing to take. Slovenia's reaction was expected, that will change."
Asked if he would ask Pahor that Slovenia apply the regional COVID model towards Croatia, like Germany, Milanovic said, "He doesn't decide on that, just as I don't in Croatia."
He said they often spoke on the phone. "The topics are political, concerning the region, the Balkans, the eastern Balkans."
Asked if he heard the appeals from the ruling HDZ, the minister of defense, the parliament speaker, and the prime minister that he should be more rational with military resources, Milanovic said he did not. "Since I'm the commander in chief, I'll decide what's more rational, if they really said that. We are being very rational."
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Anti-COVID Freedom Festival Begins In Zagreb
ZAGREB, Sept 5, 2020 - Hundreds of people rallied in Zagreb's main square at 5 p.m. on Saturday for the anti-COVID Freedom Festival protest in response to coronavirus prevention measures.
They carried banners which read "Take off the mask, turn off the TV, live life to the fullest", "COVID is a lie, we're not all covidiots", "Parents and children are inseparable", "Better the grave than to be a slave", "Free life is our power", "Normally, period" and "We believe in the strength we have".
The festival was organized by the Rights and Freedoms initiative. Participants arrived by bus from Dubrovnik, Split, Sibenik, Zadar, Rijeka, and Istria.
Since COVID-19 appeared, unprecedented measures which restrict fundamental rights and freedoms have been imposed, and our goal is to preserve the achievements of a democratic society in which one cannot tolerate decision making based on panic and propaganda or on copying instead of examining, the organizer said.
They insist on the preservation of human rights, freedoms, knowledge, solidarity, and mutual respect, and wish to say that health is psychical, physical, emotional, and mental, not just the corona level.
In the morning, participants organized events accompanied by music outside nursing homes, where they asked residents to open their windows and balconies to hear that they are not forgotten and to cheer them up with music and messages of encouragement.
Police say the rally has been announced
Zagreb police told Hina they were notified that a public rally called the Freedom Festival would be held and that they would see to it that it proceeded safely.
Assistant Interior Minister Damir Trut said on Friday the protest's organizers committed to adhering to all epidemiological measures stipulated by the Croatian Institute of Public Health.
The medical association says the festival is deception and demagoguery
The Croatian Medical Law Association (HUZMP) said on Friday it was appalled by the announcement of the Freedom Festival because, according to a press release, it was a protest against individual and societal health organized under the slogan of freedom and that this meant it was about deception and demagoguery.
"At a time when the world is facing the highest ever numbers of coronavirus cases and dead when hospitals in Croatia are quickly filling up with everyday hospitalizations of new patients, the HUZMP is appalled by the announcement of a so-called freedom festival," the press release said.
What freedom of speech are we talking about and who will cultivate it if there is no general safety and health, and who will enjoy freedoms if the processes and institutes of medical science, prevention, and treatment are being belittled, the HUZMP asked.
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