‘We are looking for an altercation of asylum seekers from the Porin Hotel, which is only 350 meters away from the new school!’

The parents of future students of the Fran Galovic Elementary School in Zagreb’s Jakusevac gathered in front of the school worried about the safety of their children, who should go to classes from autumn. Specifically, they warn that the new elementary school is in the immediate vicinity or 350 meters away from the Porin Hotel, which houses asylum seekers.

In recent years, they have testified to the public with serious incidents and criminal works of asylum seekers, as the media wrote about rapes a girl within Porin Hotel, attacking a woman in Dugave, killing in a tram in Novi Zagreb to mass fighting with wooden laths and stones at the location right in front of the school and with the school. They also launched the signing of the petition, which for the time being has parents of 350 students, and is sought by the measuring of asylum seekers from the mentioned hotel.

– There are recommendations from the EU that asylum centers do not open near sensitive areas such as schools and kindergartens, but it seems that in this case it ignored. I think we are the only or one of the few cities in Europe to place an asylum center in the settlement – said Ines, a mother of a future schoolboy at a new school in Jakuševac.

Zagreb: The protest of parents whose children will go to the newly built elementary school Jakuševec |

Photo: Marko Prpic/Pixsell

They state that they testify daily that young men between the ages of 20 and 40 are walking a neighborhood in groups, and the problem is also a store, which is located across from the school, where asylum seekers are also buying alcohol and consumed in the surrounding area.

– This is not just a matter of security of future students, but also all the locals of this neighborhood. It is a fear of walking on the road, because they walk uncontrollably in groups, shouting to younger girls and women – adds Mother Petra.

Parents say they were told they plan to enhance police patrols around the school, but they do not consider it a normal or permanent solution. Parents note that they support humanity and provide help to people in need, but we believe that the location of the shelter in the immediate vicinity of the school is not appropriate for the safety challenges and uncertainty it can bring.

– Who will guarantee the safety of children on their way to school and on their return home as well as in public transport. One or two patrol vehicles cannot monitor 560 students and 600 asylum seekers, what is the capacity of the Porin Hotel – the parents warn.

This fall, our children need to step into a new, modern school that has cameras, smart plates and everything one institution should have, but none of this is important if I am not sure the way to school, Mary, a mother of future two elementary school students.

– Who will take responsibility if something happens and if one child experiences trauma or being attacked? We want to respond until it’s too late. So we seek protection, not tomorrow, not when one remembers, but now. Because for us parents, every child is the whole world. And no world should grow up in fear – said Mary.

Zagreb: The protest of parents whose children will go to the newly built elementary school Jakuševec |

Photo: Marko Prpic/Pixsell

Parents warn that one does not know who the people who come to Porin are and whether there is someone who has been rejected asylum in Germany or another EU Member State. Parents also note that asylum seekers at the Porin Hotel itself are not adequately located, because it is a derunt facility. And these people, they say, should ensure better conditions, perhaps the container settlements that go empty. We were looking for a statement from the City of Zagreb, as well as the Ministry of the Interior, but for now there is no answer.