A major civic protest is scheduled for Saturday, September 5, in Zagreb, organized around a single demand: accountability for tens of thousands of tonnes of illegally dumped waste on the territory of Gospić in the Lika region. The rally, titled "Hodaj za Liku, hodaj za Hrvatsku" ("Walk for Lika, Walk for Croatia"), is organized by the grassroots initiative "Gospić je naš dom" ("Gospić Is Our Home") and has drawn support from a strikingly broad coalition of Croatian civil society. [1]
What the Protest Is About
The immediate trigger is the illegal disposal of large quantities of waste near Gospić, and what organizers describe as an inadequate and slow response from state institutions. [1] Protesters are demanding urgent remediation of contaminated sites, clear timelines, protection of public health and the environment, and the establishment of legal responsibility for the failures that allowed the illegal dumping to occur in the first place. [1]
The Croatian government has maintained that work on remediation is underway and that testing so far shows drinking water from the public supply system remains safe. Prime Minister Andrej Plenković announced earlier this week that neither he nor his ministers would attend the protest. "We deal with solving problems, not protesting," he said. [1]
A Deliberately Non-Partisan Gathering
Organizers have been emphatic that no political party stands behind the rally, and that they want the event to remain a civic, cross-partisan demonstration. They have stated that the stage at the main program will be reserved for citizens and representatives of civic initiatives — not party politicians. [1]
That framing has been tested in the lead-up to Saturday's event, with the government reportedly attempting to characterize the protest in ideological or partisan terms. MOST party leader Nikola Grmoja argued on Facebook that this strategy has visibly collapsed. "It is now completely clear that the government's attempt to paint the protest in ideological colors has crumbled before the eyes of all of Croatia," he wrote. [1]
Grmoja pointed to the diversity of groups that have publicly backed the rally as evidence: Lika-region war veterans, Catholic civic initiatives, football supporters, trade union members, intellectuals, and members of the HOS formation that defended Vukovar during the 1990s war. [1] Numerous unions, associations, public figures, and politicians from across the political spectrum have also declared support in recent days. [1]
Troskot's Role and the Government's Dilemma
A key element of Grmoja's argument concerns his own party colleague, MP Zvonimir Troskot, whom he credits with doing much of the early work to elevate the Lika waste issue to national prominence. Grmoja argued this fact undermined the government's attempt at political framing: "What proved fatal for the strategy of Plenković's government is that the key role in raising this issue to the national level was played by the representative of the sovereigntist and patriotic MOST, Zvonimir Troskot — not some leftist." [1]
The 24sata report also noted Troskot's centrality to the issue, citing video material in which Troskot and a colleague discussed findings allegedly confirming illegal disposal of hazardous waste at an additional location in the Lika region. [4] The specific claims in that material have not been independently verified by the sources reviewed here.
Record Turnout Predicted — Though That Is One Man's Forecast
Grmoja went further, predicting that Saturday's rally would be "the largest protest in the history of Croatia, equal to the one against covid passes or even larger." [1] He framed the anti-covid-pass protest — which he said was held on September 5, 2020, exactly six years before Saturday's event — as the previous benchmark for mass mobilization in Croatia, and criticized media outlets for omitting it when discussing the country's largest demonstrations. [4]
This is Grmoja's own projection, not an independently verified assessment, and actual turnout will only be known after the event concludes. His prediction should be read as the political argument of a party leader with a clear interest in the protest's success, not as an established fact.
Logistics
The march begins at 11:00 a.m. at Trg kralja Tomislava (King Tomislav Square), adjacent to Zagreb's main railway station. The procession will then move toward Trg bana Josipa Jelačića, where the main program is scheduled to begin at noon. [1]
What to Watch
The actual size of the crowd will be the first and most consequential data point — both as a measure of public anger over the waste scandal and as a test of whether the cross-partisan coalition Grmoja describes holds together on the day. Watch also for whether any party politicians appear on stage despite organizers' stated intentions, and for the government's response in the days following, particularly regarding any new timelines or legal steps on the Gospić remediation. The question of whether additional contaminated sites exist in the Lika region — as suggested by Troskot's claims — is likely to remain a live political issue regardless of Saturday's outcome.