The protest was sparked by Plenković's appointment of judge Ivan Turudić to the position of
State Attorney of Croatia. His appointment is controversial (among other things), due to his connections with people indicted by Croatian judicial bodies, some of whom (such as
Josipa Rimac) are former members of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union party. Rimac was indicted for corruption by Croatian institutions and according to the leak published by Jutarnji list exchanged hundreds of
WhatsApp messages with Turudić in a period between 2016 and 2020. In some of the leaked messages Rimac and Turudić apparently sweet-talked to each other by calling themselves "my beautiful" and "my joy". who then under supervision of Croatian
Security and Intelligence Agency and who was subsequently sentenced to prison by Croatian courts and is currently a fugitive in
Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to writing of Croatian daily Večernji list, at the time of their night meeting, Turudić was president of a court where Mamić was trialed at. He went on to accuse Plenković of trying to place
State's Attorney Office of the Republic of Croatia under the political control of current government. Opposition politician Dalija Orešković called appointment "an end of independent judicial system". Parliamentarians belonging to left wing
We Can! party protested in front of
Croatian Sabor while Turudić was voted in by a parliament majority. We Can! MP
Ivana Kekin accused prime minister Plenković of taking the country to the course of Orban's Hungary and Vučić's Serbia. She also called Turudić "Croatian Democratic Unions's boy". Meanwhile, 11 political parties also announced joining the protest. Prime minister Plenković, on the other hand, defended the appointment of Turudić by saying that Turudić passed several security checks of Security and Intelligence Agency. Parliamentary opposition asked for a thematic session of
Sabor Judiciary Committee dedicated to Turudić issue, however, the ruling majority dismissed such idea and reiterated that Turudić was appointed "legally and transparent".
Nikola Grmoja, a distinguished member of
The Bridge - an opposition conservative party declared that their party will not be joining the protest, albeit they support a citizens right to protest. According to him, the organizers signaled them that they are not welcome due to their beliefs about
illegal migrations. Two days prior to the protest, another distinguished Bridge member
Nino Raspudić talked about a future protest as a "left wing election campaign rally". On 15 February 2024, president of High Criminal Court of Croatia, with approval of president
Supreme court of Croatia filed a complaint against Ivan Turudić for breaking a Codex of judicial ethics. According to this report, Turudić met several times with people who were under investigation, thus violating the Codex. == The protest ==