RESIDENTS OF STUBICKA SLATINA PROTEST AGAINST PLAN TO OPEN ASYLUM CENTRE

STUBICKA SLATINA, April 25 (Hina) - Some 300 residents of Stubicka Slatina, about 30 kilometres northwest of Zagreb, rallied on Sunday to protest against a plan by the Interior Ministry to convert a disused army barracks in their neighbourhood into an asylum centre.#L# Interior Minister Marijan Mlinaric tried in vain to assure the angry locals that the centre for asylum seekers was "one of the conditions for EU entry" and that "asylum seekers will not bring 'exotic' diseases to their community such as SARS or avian flue", because they were not, as some local party officials claimed, "criminals, murderers and terrorists". "People with narrow-minded interests are creating problems where there aren't any, and the fact that they are intimidating people with terrorists and criminals is a criminal offence," he warned. Mlinaric promised the residents of Stubicka Slatina assistance in repairing and maintaining local roads and other infrastructure, and about 35 to 40 new jobs in the asylum centre. The minister was frequently interrupted by whistles and shouts from the crowd and was eventually booed away. "We are taking the petition with us and we'll see," Mlinaric briefly told reporters before leaving. Whether or not an asylum centre will be opened in Stubicka Slatina will be decided next week because Croatia has been given until April 30 to spend 800,000 euros from the CARDS programme for the conversion of the military barracks, the minister said. Also present at the rally were the secretary-general of the Democratic Party of Zagorje, Viseslav Cuk, whose party launched the petition against the asylum centre, and the mayor of the adjacent town of Stubicke Toplice, Vladimir Bosnar, a member of the Democratic Centre (DC) party. (Hina) vm