Insults and Incitement to Violence Surround a Pro-Marriage Referendum
The Christian position was discredited in the liberal-leftist media, portals and on Facebook, as harmful to society. Media asserted that believers should not be permitted to express their religious beliefs in public. Inciting comments were not always deleted by the portals. Fifty reports were filed with the police due to verbal and physical violence in response to the attitude toward marriage as a union of a woman and a man. Criminal charges have been filed.
On October 18, Ms. Željka Markić filed criminal charges against the activist portal Crol.hr (a portal “for lesbian, bisexual and undecided women”) because it did not delete commentaries with contents that incited violence and hatred toward herself, personally. Charges were filed on the basis of a criminal offense under Article 325, Paragraph 1, of the Criminal Code.The Ministry of Science Education and Sports prohibited teachers of religion to speak of marriage as a union of a woman and a man (as of November 13, 2013) and to influence students on how to vote. Many teachers of religion have been harassed in schools and staff rooms merely because they are teachers of religion.
Against the volunteers of the initiative In the Name of the Family, during the collection of signatures for the referendum in which “marriage as a union of a woman and a man” would be included in the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia, instances of physical and verbal violence – insults, profanity and other forms of provocation (from May 12 to 26, 2013) were recorded.
At the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, University of Zagreb, a male individual threatened student volunteers that he would “douse them with gasoline” (on May 13, 2013).
Celebrities who have publicly supported the Initiative have been attacked by the media. From May 12 to 26, 2013, associations that were against the referendum launched an assault against the world-famous athlete Blanka Vlašić and asked her sponsors to terminate her contract (via social networks, they called for sending mail to the sponsors urging the termination of her contract).
Source:
Justice and Peace Commission of the Croatian Conference of Bishops