The Associated Press reports:
Thousands of Croatian far-right supporters marched Saturday in downtown Zagreb to protest an international convention they said indirectly legalizes gay marriages and gives rights to transgender people.
The protesters sang patriotic songs and chanted slogans against Croatia’s centre-right government, which last week approved the Istanbul convention that was adopted by the Council of Europe in 2011, but still hasn’t been ratified by Croatia’s parliament.
Croatia’s conservative opposition and the Catholic Church — the organizers of the protest — said they support combating violence against women and domestic violence, which is the main point of the convention, but are against its alleged introduction of “a third gender” into society.
Today, the people of Croatia formed a massive protest numbering about 50,000 people against the ratification of the EU Istanbul Convention which would not only take 166 million USD out of the budget, but also openly insert leftist ideological propaganda into our schools. pic.twitter.com/pSJyDMul6W
— Hrvatski Identitetski Pokret (@IdentityCroatia) March 24, 2018
#Croaţia: Mii de persoane au participat la un protest la #Zagreb împotriva #IstanbulConvention, trimisă parlamentului spre ratificare. Documentul este criticat ca o ameninţare la valorile tradiţionale – favorizarea căsătoriilor homosexuale şi acceptarea unui al treilea gen. pic.twitter.com/HDhhjuZjcl
— Radio Romania International (@RRInternational) March 24, 2018
#Croatia: #protests against the ratification of the Istanbul Convention.
According to the police, 2,000 people participated in the protests #hrvatska #yugoslavnews pic.twitter.com/WRBMa8eiju— Yugoslav News (@YugoUnderground) March 24, 2018
Thousand protest against Istanbul Convention in #Zagrebhttps://t.co/gLswOHwYJw #IT #croatia pic.twitter.com/FEEzYL6j8n
— The Dubrovnik Times (@DubrovnikTimes) March 24, 2018