ZAGREB, March 31 (Hina) - Laid-off policemen who have been protesting in front of the government building in downtown Zagreb for 12 days said on Sunday they would meet Prime Minister Ivica Racan on Tuesday, when they hope an agreement
will be reached as to ways of returning them to work.
ZAGREB, March 31 (Hina) - Laid-off policemen who have been
protesting in front of the government building in downtown Zagreb
for 12 days said on Sunday they would meet Prime Minister Ivica
Racan on Tuesday, when they hope an agreement will be reached as to
ways of returning them to work. #L#
An official of a coordinating body of associations of laid-off
police, Filip Lacic, said Racan visited the demonstrators on Friday
evening, when he talked with them for one hour and invited them to a
meeting.
"We expect our demands to be returned to work will be met at that
meeting," said Lacic. He hopes a government commission reviewing
the Interior Ministry programme under which surplus police were
laid off last year will establish the programme's deficiencies and
omissions.
According to Stjepan Jelusic, one of the protest's organisers, a
three-man delegation of the demonstrators and Racan should agree
about the future of some 110 former officers. If agreement is
reached, some would be re-employed, some would be retired, and some
sent into the reserve, receiving a 75 percent wage until
retirement.
Four protesters discontinued a hunger strike over the past two
days, at doctors' recommendation. Eight are resolute in refusing
food until their demands have been met. Lacic said their condition
was stable.
Since morning, the 60 protesters at St. Mark's Square have been
receiving Easter gifts, food, and beverages from the capital's
residents.
(hina) ha