Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Davor Božinović visited the state border of the Republic of Croatia in the area of the Sisak-Moslavina Police Administration, where he responded to an attack by coalition partner Ivan Penava on the Ministry of the Interior.
Penava, president of the Homeland Movement, accused the police of exaggerating the case of fans suspected of Nazi and antisemitic outbursts in Split. Božinović responded: "Fortunately, today the police do not act or work according to political expectations, but professionally and in accordance with the law." He explained that when the police are looking for someone and have a photograph, they publish the photograph, and when they do not have a photograph, they sometimes publish a composite sketch. These procedures, he added, are defined by laws and the police coordinate them with the State Attorney's Office (DORH). Photographs of all suspects were not published, but only those who are being sought and have been on the run for five days, and investigative detention has been ordered for the suspects. Most of these people were in the photographs in the front row of the cortege, which were broadcast by all media, Božinović said, and he added: "Let the police do their job and stop with the hypocrisy and political parasitism on the work of the Croatian police."
The Minister asserted that the governing coalition is stable. "The coalition is functioning," he stated, adding that coalition partners meet regularly and discuss all issues. Penava, he noted, sometimes attends coalition meetings and sometimes does not. If he had raised the issue at a coalition meeting, he would have received an answer, Božinović said. He expects a meeting of the governing parties today or tomorrow. "I do not know what prompted Mr Penava," he stated, adding that he was aware of his statements because his staff had sent him a transcript of the address. "If he had raised this issue at a coalition meeting, he would have received an answer. He came out to the public and now he is receiving a public answer," he said. "We will talk about that, it is being discussed. Ultimately, there is also the Government and Deputy Prime Minister Medved in communication with the Homeland Movement."
Penava stated that the Homeland Movement could leave the governing coalition due to, as he claims, the lack of public confrontation with communist crimes in Croatia.
Speaking about migration, Božinović stated: "We have 40 per cent fewer migrants, and we have prevented 25,000 individual entries into the Republic of Croatia and in doing so detained 950 human traffickers." The police, he emphasised, are everywhere they need to be on the streets of Croatia and on the roads. "This year we have returned nearly 7,000 people to other countries, a larger part to Bosnia and Herzegovina," he said. The departure of 50 people in an organisation by Frontex is being prepared. "We have had a little less than 1,000 returned to us from other countries, but they also enter the programme of departure from Croatia," he stated. He noted that migrants risk their lives and embark on an adventure and emphasised that "this is not the path for them and in Europe the consensus is growing that the messages from 2015 and 2016 no longer apply today".
On the situation in Split, Božinović stated that the police had prevented a planned fight involving around 500 fans one or two nights before the events that have been discussed in recent days. "And now we have to pull police forces from other police administrations, sometimes even from the border, to be there and we will be there," he said. "The police did not have to lose two, three nights there to secure the event, but they must secure it."
