(Zagreb) Several hundred opponents of the obligation of the health passport in the public sector demonstrated Thursday for the fourth consecutive day in Zagreb and in several cities of Croatia, while the country records records of contamination with the coronavirus.
From Monday, all public sector employees and people visiting public institutions will need a health passport justifying vaccination status, contamination or recent negative test.
Low vaccination rate
In this country of 4.2 million inhabitants with one of the lowest vaccination rates in the European Union (45%), this measure has so far been in force only in the health sector.
Thursday evening, several hundred demonstrators without masks gathered as every day since Monday in front of the buildings of the government and the Parliament in the center of Zagreb for a rally called “Light against the darkness”, noted an AFP photographer. .
Some of them carried paper lanterns, others with placards which read “The unvaccinated should not be fired” or “Freedom of choice”.
“I do not wear a mask and I will not be vaccinated even if I am the last person on the planet […] I do not need this evil (the vaccine, editor’s note) in my body, ”wrote a woman on the Facebook page of an ultra-Catholic group that was one of the organizers of these rallies which began on Monday.
Croatia recorded a record of 7,315 infected in 24 hours on Wednesday.
The country’s leaders urge the population to get vaccinated and accuse the reluctant to be responsible for this surge in cases. If the introduction of the health passport in public services does not give results, it will be imposed in January in cafes, restaurants and sports halls, the authorities have warned.
Since the start of the pandemic, more than 9,700 people have died in Croatia from COVID-19.