Damir Kajin of the Istrian Democratic Party (IDS) said he did not reproach the government for reaching a settlement with trade unions, but reproached the trade unions for giving up protests in front of the government and parliament headquarters at Zagreb's St. Mark's Square, which he described as "the sacred place of Croatian democracy and parliamentarism".
Kajin said the trade union leaders gave up the right to protest in St. Mark's Square because the government said that, despite a Constitutional Court decision, it would reinstate into the Labour Act a provision under which even those who were not union members would have to pay contributions.
Kajin said the trade unions had thus become dependent on the government and let workers down.
Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said Kajin's claims were inappropriate and added the unionists had not made any bargain but showed a high degree of responsibility. He said the government's motion had been endorsed by five of the six trade union federations.
The club of independent MPs was against limiting public assembly too, with Branimir Glavas saying public rallies in St. Mark's Square had not been banned even in communist times.
Glavas said that under the previous coalition government people were "incited" to stage protest rallies, and commended the previous authorities for "stoically taking it, although some of those protests crossed the line".