UPPER HOUSE DISCUSSES BILL ON GATHERING & PUBLIC PROTEST

( Editorial: --> 8340 ) ZAGREB, April 21 (Hina) - The Croatian Parliament's House of Counties on Tuesday started a discussion on a bill on peaceful gathering and public protests. The bill regulates conditions of and locations at which gatherings and public protests can be held, as well as responsibilities of organisers, municipalities and towns, and the Interior Ministry. The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) believes that the proposed solutions, which are harmonised with European standards, are good. Opposition representatives, on the other hand, believe that the regulations are more restrictive than those in the existing Law on Public Gathering, adopted in 1992. The new solutions are being proposed because the Law on Public Gathering has not drawn a line between the terms "peaceful gathering" and "public protest" which are a fundamental personal and political freedom of citizens, and public events and profit- making gatherings. The Law has also failed to determine the term "public place" where gatherings and protests can be held. This is the key issue which initiated the adoption of a new law. Assistant Interior Minister Zlatko Gledec explained the bill to MPs. If the bill is adopted, peaceful gatherings and public protests will not be held in national parks, near hospitals, kindergartens and primary schools, near listed cultural monuments, and on motorways and roads. The law would enable towns with more than 40,000 residents to make a decision on locations where gatherings and protests are not allowed. The Interior Minister would have the right to prohibit a meeting if it has not been registered, if it is held on an disallowed location, if it calls for war or use of force, racial or religious hatred or any other form of intolerance, or if there is a chance of endangering life, violence and other forms of serious disturbance of public order and peace. An authorised person could stop such meetings from taking place. In case a meeting is forbidden, the organiser of the meeting would be able to file a complaint to the Croatian Administration Court which would consider the complaint in an urgent procedure. The organiser would have the task to care for public order and peace. Opposition representatives criticised most regulations referring to the location of meetings. They warned that almost all town squares have listed cultural monuments, which means that people would not be allowed to meet on traditional meeting locations. Some MPs believe that the bill would not lead to democratisation of the society but would rather give a minority group the right to make decisions. (hina) jn rm/mrb 211527 MET apr 98