Zagreb, Nov 10 (IANS): Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic condemned Friday's assaults against foreign workers in Split, the country's second-largest city.

"I condemn attacks against foreign workers," Plenkovic said at a news conference on Saturday, adding that foreign workers offset the shortage of local workers in the labour market.

Plenkovic made the statement after four young men were arrested for physically assaulting a foreign delivery worker in Split, with investigations underway for the offence of bodily harm with potential links to hate crime, reports Xinhua news agency.

Additionally, there were three more incidents involving attacks on foreign delivery workers in Split on Friday night. In one case, a delivery worker from Nepal got seriously injured, and the perpetrators fled the scene.

Croatia will adopt the Foreigners' Act to regulate the employment of foreigners and to enable them to have "a decent and fair pay and help them have their dignity concerning their accommodation and functioning in a completely different culture and society," Plenkovic said.

In response to a labour shortage in Croatia, the country has been issuing work permits to foreign workers, with 131,000 permits granted by the end of July.