Thousands of protesters filled central Zagreb today to show their disagreement with the Istanbul Convention, worried that it threatens their traditional values of society.

The main objection of the protestors is that the convention would legitimise same-sex marriage as well as recognising more rights for transgender people. 

Conservative groups, representatives of the Catholic Church and political figures all turned out today in Zagreb and called on the Prime Minister, Andrej Plenkovic, to resign as he is supporter of the convention. According to polls around two thirds of Croatians support the convention, and at the protest today there was also a group of women’s rights groups who organised a counter-protest.

The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention) is a Council of Europe convention against violence against women and domestic violence which was opened for signature on 11 May 2011, in Istanbul, Turkey. And in fact Turkey became the first country to ratify the agreement on the 12th of March 2012. From 2013 to 2017 a further twenty-eight countries have signed the agreement, including Croatia’s neighbours, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia.

The Croatian parliament has yet to ratify the convention, although the government is believed to be supporters of the agreement. This support has led to disruption in the party and with conservative groups and the Catholic Church.

One of the protest organisers, Kristina Pavlovic, said that "I think this is a turning point for Croatia. We must decide whether Croatia will choose a preservation of family and traditional values or go another way imposed from outside, from Brussels, or like what we see in Canada where there will be a Parent One and Parent Two instead of mother and father."