"Thirty percent of Croats are poor, but not through their fault. 317,000 citizens have blocked accounts, owing HRK 31.46 billion. There are many poor people and all are united in misery," he said at the protest in Franjo Tudjman Square before more than 3,000 people. The protest was organised by the Franak Association of citizens with loans denominated in Swiss francs.
Sever said bankers lived well at citizens' expense but the government would not listen. "They ignore us. Citizens are on one side and they on the other, and they are only trying to stay in power as long as possible," he said, adding that he expected the Croatian National Bank (HNB), the government and parliament to adopt measures made for their citizens in the future.
The president of the HURS union federation, Ozren Matijasevic, said citizens were at the mercy of banks. "The HNB is neither Croatian nor national because it's letting this happen. Over the past six years, we have lost 200,000 jobs, poverty has risen 30 percent, industrial production has dropped 17%, and banks have 20 billion in profits," he said, adding that only banks should bear the loan burden.
"Let this be the beginning of civil unrest and disobedience because once the street deposes the government, nothing will be the same," he said, adding that banks should give Croats the same treatment as to the citizens in the countries they came from.
The president of the Preporod union, Zeljko Stipic, said many Croatian citizens were resigned to their situation, which was why there were not half a million at today's protest.
He said the government was turning the middle class into the poor from whom nothing more could be taken. He said bankers and politicians recognised only the language of pressure.
Indebted citizens from all parts of Croatia as well as Slovenia, Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina came to the protest, carrying banners against banks and capitalism.
After Franjo Tudjman Square, the protesters marched towards Zagreb's main square, from where, according to the organisers, one column will head to the government building and one to the HNB headquarters.
The protest was supported by many organisations, unions, and protesting war veterans.
The protesters demand the resignation of HNB governor Boris Vujcic, the adoption of a regulation on the conversion of CHF-pegged loans, fixing interest rates, and banning foreclosures on citizens with loans pegged to the currency clause.
(EUR 1 = HRK 7.6)