At a press conference in Selska Street where the wall stood, Appeal Centre president Zdenka Farkas refuted statements by Deputy Mayor Milan Bandic and Miodrag Demo of the city office for war veterans, who claimed that all the necessary agreements had been reached to relocate the bricks bearing the names of killed and missing soldiers and civilians to Mirogoj cemetery.
Farkas said that the creator of the Wall of Pain, the committee which initiated its erection, the associations of veterans' widows and the Disabled War Veterans Association (HVIDR-a) had been neither consulted about nor agreed to the relocation of the wall.
Farkas said the erection of the wall began on 26 September 1993 to testify about the suffering of the Croatian people. She added the wall was pulled down by Bandic, Demo and Mayor Vlasta Pavic, and announced that she would inform the international community. She accused them of vandalism, of removing the bricks in the early hours of Saturday without informing anyone, throwing them into a hole and covering them with concrete.
Croatian Radio's wartime correspondent from Vukovar Alenka Mirkovic commented on President Stjepan Mesic's statement that the Wall of Pain had been exposed to the elements. She said that the huts at Auschwotz and the furnaces at Birkenau were exposed to the elements too, yet were not buried and covered with concrete.
War Veterans Minister and Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor said irreparable damage was done by relocating the wall to Mirogoj because some bricks were irretrievably damaged. She added that no one had the right to transfer the bricks until all associations agreed about the wall's fate.
Kosor said the Wall of Pain must in some way remain in Selska Street because it was built at a particular time and reminded everyone of the aggression against Croatia, but also because Croatia was still looking for 1,158 people detained or gone missing during the 1990s war.
The minister said that yesterday's unannounced relocation of the bricks was entirely unacceptable in a civilised world, also because no final agreement had been reached about the relocation.
In a statement last night, HVIDR-a's Zagreb branch said it was "appalled" by the "forced and unlawful removal of the Wall of Pain," which it described as "barbaric". It added that what would happen to the wall must be decided at the state level.
The Homeland War associations called on citizens to support them.