The felling of the lime tree avenue on Ban Jelačić Square in Karlovac and the detention of two women who protested against it has drawn sharp condemnation from the opposition in the City Council.
Možemo!, SDP and the Pensioners' Party, with the support of independent lists, described the city administration's move on Tuesday as "a symbol of repression and disregard for the will of citizens, experts and the public interest".
"More than 4,000 citizens who opposed the felling were ignored. This is no longer just a question of trees, but the relationship of the authorities towards their own citizens", said Možemo! councillor Dobriša Adamec at a press conference attended by around a hundred Karlovac residents. He added that the lime trees had survived the war, the earthquake and storms and were not felled because they were diseased.
Ehlimana Planinac from SDP described how the trees were felled from early morning, with security guards present, and two people who publicly fought against the felling were taken to the police station. She recalled that the mayor had previously claimed that the lime trees, planted in 1979 to mark Karlovac's 400th anniversary, would be relocated. "They left only one lime tree. Nearly 40 were felled", she said and announced that the opposition would seek accountability from the mayor.
Vesna Horvat from the Pensioners' Party warned that the City Council had accepted the Green Urban Renewal Strategy a year ago, while Luka Kučinić from SDP assessed that the city had lost not only trees but also part of its identity through the felling. Former mayoral candidate Davor Petračić also joined the conference.
Works on the square's reconstruction were temporarily halted after a revolt by part of the public, but the City Council decided that the project would continue. The city administration had previously stated that an area of more than 8,000 square metres was being renovated and that 18 new lime trees would be planted.
Mayor Damir Mandić stated, however, that according to a landscape study, the existing trees should never have been planted at that location because they were suffocated by the asphalt. The square is being renovated according to a project by architects Krešimir Rogina and Vinko Penezić, which won the urban planning and architectural competition in 2009.
