Zeljko Strize, the leader of the local war veterans' association called HVIDRA, said on Wednesday that the jumbo poster was displayed at the initiative of villagers from the hamlets of Sanader, Kulic and Zoke with the assistance of HVIDRA members from Kastela.
The veterans' association issued a statement posted at the Dugobabe bus station reading that the local population sent a message to the Croatian public that memories of General Ante Gotovina are still cherished in "the heart of every fair Croatian no matter which party or policy he belongs to".
"It is not accidental that we do it (put up the poster) today on the eve of the date on which we liberated our country being led by generals Gotovina, (Rahim) Ademi, (Damir) Krsticevic with President Franjo Tudjman being at the helm," the statement says, among other things,
The statement adds that Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day becomes a holiday for what HVIDRA calls fashion models from St Mark's Square and Pantovcak, referring to the headquarters of the government and the Croatian president respectively. The statement reads that the march-past which will be in Knin will serve only for clearing those officials' conscience from their "servile policy towards international power-mongers".
The local HVIDRA in the statement accuses President Stjepan Mesic of having falsely testified before the UN tribunal in The Hague and of having said that Croatia was an aggressor in Bosnia-Herzegovina as well as of discrediting the Operation Storm.
It criticises PM Sanader over what it believes is his lack of patriotism.
"Patriotism is not proved by education and the number of languages one can speak but by commitment to one's own people and preservation of values inherited from our dead heroes who proved their value by exploits rather than by big words and parades," the statement reads.
Gen. Gotovina has been on the run since July 2001 when the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia issued an indictment against him.