The ministry excavators on Wednesday morning started demolishing illegally built housing on the central Adriatic island of Vir as part of a government plan to remove the holiday houses and apartments constructed on the protected strip of land within 70 metres from the sea.
The demolition started with the buildings owned by Hungarian investors, whose spokeswoman Krisztina Vass told reporters that the demolition drive could have "serious, even tragic consequences".
Vass said that the Hungarians were being discriminated against because Croatian-owned houses were not being knocked down. She insisted that Hungarian investors had built the houses on a development site and that they had paid all the required dues.
The ministry responded by saying that 23 of 50 facilities which should be demolished are owned by Croatian nationals, 18 by Hungarians, six by Bosnians and one by a Slovene national.
Vass claimed this morning that the Hungarian investors had been notified by the Hungarian ambassador to Zagreb that Croatian Environment Minister Marina Matulovic Dropulic had promised him that finished houses would not be demolished.
The ministry dismissed the allegation, saying that Minister Matulovic Dropulic had last week notified the Hungarian ambassador about the performance of the ministry's inspection teams and its decision on the removal of illegally built facilities, including some owned by Hungarian nationals.
In addition, the minister told the press on Monday that at the start of the demolition drive, 22 buildings under construction and the remaining finished 28 facilities would be pulled down.
The ministry also underlines that there is no reason for the interruption of the demolition drive since the owners of the illegally built facilities were notified of this procedure a few months ago and had enough time to take valuable things from their houses.
Besides, teams in charge of demolition will store valuable things they find in the houses which should be demolished in a safe place before they pull down the houses, the ministry added.
About 30 owners of illegally built houses gathered in front of the Vir municipal council building early on Wednesday afternoon protesting against the demolition drive.
The rally lasted about half an hour after which the protesters dispersed peacefully.
The municipality's head, Kristijan Kapovic, urged the protesters to remain calm.
He added that the local authorities believed that all buildings built before the government's decree on the protected coastal line, adopted by the Ivo Sanader cabinet in 2004, should be legalised, while other illegally built facilities should be demolished.
Kapovic said that it would be a tragedy if some facilities built before the government's decree were pulled down.
At the very start of the demolition drive on Wednesday, four facilities were pulled down.
Those were two holiday houses under construction owned by Hungarians, one house under construction owned by a Croatian national, and one house under construction owned by a Slovene.