Croatia needs peace and stability rather than street protests, as every sign of instability is another obstacle on the country's EU pathway, Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor stated Friday in view of the protests which were held throughout the week and new ones that have been announced.

"If there are street protests, Croatia will not be able to complete the negotiations for the EU accession and achieve that huge strategic and historic goal in the year when the country is marking the 20th anniversary of its independence," Kosor said after the meeting with the delegation of the Croatian Employers' Association.

Three persons were injured and 10 were arrested during an anti-government protest in Zagreb late Thursday, the Zagreb police said in a release Friday.

The main organizer of the Thursday protest, Ivan Pernar, was released from custody, but was given the ban on approaching the St. Mark's Square, the location of the government and parliament buildings, as well as the whole central district Gornji grad (the Upper Town).

Seven persons were detained for violating public order and peace.

Two of the protesters and one female police officer sustained injuries.

According to Deputy Chief Police Director Drazen Vitez, the protest, which was not officially announced, was violent as protesters tried to tear down the scaffolding in one of the central streets, and at one point attacked the police with bottles and traffic signs they were plucking out from the ground.

Vitez refuted the media allegations that the police were using tear-gas.

The police used only the pepper spray which every police officer has by his side, he argued.

The police say there were five members of football fan groups among the rioters who already had police records, adding that there were about 50 FC Dinamo supporters, who call themselves the Bad Blue Boys.

It is expected that between 1,000 and 3,000 people will turn up at the protest which was announced to the police to take place on Saturday, and it is not unlikely that some of the demonstrators will separate and then go to the parliament and government buildings, Head of the Zagreb Police Administration Tomislav Buterin has said to journalists, adding that the police will know how to react.