Matija Gubec Initiative Reacts to the Abolition of Ban for Public Gatherings on Markov Trg

28 November 2005

The Matija Gubec civic initative for resistance to the space for political discretion, came out with public reaction on the ruling adopted by the Constitutional Court to abolish the Law on Changes and Amendments to the Law on Public Gathering.

The Initiative hailed the ruling, but also expressed their dissatisfaction with the fact that it was adopted on the basis of formal unconstitionality, instead of its contents, as required by the Initiative and the Independent Trade Unions. They claimed, in their submission to the Constitutional Court, that the Ban of Public Gatherings on St. Mark Square in Zagreb violates the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of public gathering in a manner that presents no danger to national security, public peace and order.

In addition, the Trade Unions claimed that the Law also puts the Government of Croatian in a privileged position compared to the other employers in the country, for it prohibits strikes in front of the employer�s headquarters.

The annulment of the disputed Law over a formal reasons will provide the Government with the chance to adopt it again when it secures one more vote in the Parliament.

Furthermore, the initiators of the Constitutional Court Procedure say believe that there is no excuse for the suspended entry into force of the ruling, scheduled for March 31, 2006. The suspended rulings are adopted only in situations when the momentous annulment of a provision would create a legal vacuum, which has not been the case.

The suspension of the entry into force will provide the Government with more time in which the citizens will not be able to invoke their right to public protest.