ZAGREB, Friday night. There are no queues in front of clubs, no crowds on cafe terraces, but in a certain part of the city, there's more bustle than ever before.

In front of the Croatian National Theater (HNK) in Zagreb, in the very center of the city, hundreds of young people are sitting, dancing, singing, playing music... Techno, metal, rock, punk, folk. All genres can be heard. Fancy people, punkers, "jocks", adults, students, teenagers - they are all in the same place together, and the vibe in front of the Croatian National Theater is truly indescribable.

"It looks like Berlin," was the first thing we said when we arrived in front of the HNK, which was crowded as early as at 9 p.m. They were sitting on benches, on stairs, on the floor. They didn't care, they were having fun like never before. They were playing guitars, drums, singing... Everyone was having fun in their own way.

For a long, long time, such diversity could not be seen in Zagreb in one place.

"I came from Rijeka to see this, he has been trying to get me to come for weeks, so I said: ok, let's see what it's all about," says a girl who was convinced by a friend to come from Rijeka to witness this new way of partying in Zagreb.

"There have never been so many people here before. Some of us often drank in front of the HNK on weekends, but that was mostly just punkers. Now there are folk fans and fancy people, everyone is here, and it's great. And not just on weekends, there's also a bunch of people on weekdays," we were told by a young girl who has been coming in front of the Croatian National Theater with her friends for weeks.

Clubs do not interest them at all at the moment. Although they seem very unbothered, when talking to them, it becomes clear that they took coronavirus seriously, which is why it is more convenient for them to be outside than indoors in a crowd of people. "There's no fear when we're outside," they say as they party with their friends. This seemed unthinkable to them only a month ago.

"So, are you going somewhere later?" I asked them, thinking that gathering in front of the Croatian National Theater may be just a "pregame". "No, we're planning to stay here until three, four. Most of the clubs haven't yet reopened, and why would we go anywhere when it's great here," they tell me.

Indeed, although some clubs in Zagreb have started to reopen their doors, due to the measures prescribed by the Coronavirus Task Force, they can only be entered if one has a reservation. Therefore, you have to plan such an outing days in advance, and you can't just spontaneously decide to go out. But that's why the HNK is here.

"I'm also going in front of the Croatian National Theater after we close at 1," a young Zagreb bar owner Fran Curkovic tells us. He also noticed the changes that quarantine brought to the nightlife of Zagreb in the bar he works at.

His "Market" in the center of Zagreb is a new place in Zagreb, which was quickly made popular by this way of partying. It is close to the Croatian National Theater, and a lot of people can be found in front of the bar on weekends. Everyone drinks - outside. "They go in, get a drink and then go outside to hang out with their friends," Fran says. Many of them take their drink and walk to the Croatian National Theater, where they stay all night. It seems that the people in Zagreb have had enough of closed spaces. After quarantine, they want to socialize outdoors.

And yes, of course, many will point out the problematic nature of such mass gatherings in front of the HNK. The amount of bottles and trash left behind is certainly an annoyance to the workers of Zagreb's waste disposal company Cistoca who have to clean them up, and it is impossible to avoid the smell of urine in the nearby parks and bushes. There are no public toilets nearby, but the people who gather in front of the Croatian National Theater are aware of this problem.

"I'm glad that the city is finally serving the people. Now the next step might be to set up some public toilets, maybe even to hire security guards. To make this kind of partying a normal thing, like in any other Central European city," a young man tells us.

While we were filming in front of the HNK, the police intervened at one point. "Some guys got into a fight, the cops came and separated them. It's not the first time, they are here every weekend," explained a guy who was having a good time with his friends in front of the HNK.

"They don't force us to leave, and they only intervene when there's a fight… Usually, they just stand there or walk around," says a girl that likes to come in front of the Croatian National Theater for at least an hour, even when she doesn't plan to go out. She likes the atmosphere, she says.

A police van is usually parked somewhere near the HNK, but they don't disperse people until three or four in the morning. "There are too many of us, they can't disperse us, they just make sure everything is in order," a girl tells us. "There was a police van here last weekend, there were four police officers, they didn't disperse us, but really, they couldn't have done that anyway," adds another.

Indeed, there is such a positive vibe in front of the HNK that it is hard to imagine that someone would force all these people away. It is a small Zagreb "melting pot" that you really have to experience.