Rojc Social Center users protest Pula City Council decisions

Users and activists of the Rojc Social Center in Pula are protesting against proposed City Council decisions that threaten the center’s long-standing participatory management model. The proposed changes involve new regulations for leasing business premises and allocating space to associations.

Critics, including representatives from the Možemo! party, argue that the decisions shift oversight of the center from the Department of Culture to the Department of Communal Economy, Transport, and Property. This shift is viewed as prioritizing administrative real estate management over the center’s role as a hub for non-profit community, civil resistance, and alternative culture.

Protesters note that the center has operated under a public-civil partnership model since 2008. They express concern that the new proposals will transform cultural associations into mere tenants and shorten lease agreements from ten years to five. This change coincides with the end of a five-year period of European oversight regarding the building’s social use, which began in August.