Wearing Ustasha uniforms and insignia, especially displaying pictures of General Ante Gotovina along with pictures of Ante Pavelic is harmful to Croatia and Gotovina, HSP leader Anto Djapic said at a news conference in parliament.
"The Homeland War cannot be linked to a movement which lost a war, which was totalitarian and undemocratic. Linking Gotovina and Pavelic isn't good either for Gotovina or for Croatia," Djapic said.
Ustasha insignia causes great harm to Croatia, especially at a time when efforts are being made to portray the country in a positive light and get a date for the start of EU entry talks, Djapic said.
He added that the HSP would see to it that it was no longer linked to occurrences from which it had distanced itself on several occasions.
Commenting on the fact that the leader of the HSP's local branch, Danijel Kotlar, participated and addressed the gathering, Djapic said that Kotlar wanted to speak about Home Guard units which he commanded during the Serb aggression on Zadar and Croatia.
About 50 people took part in the gathering, which was held in a hall displaying the photos of Pavelic and Gotovina, the fugitive general wanted by the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague. A policeman standing outside the hall did nothing about the gathering.
After the gathering, about 30 participants walked through downtown Zadar carrying a photo of Pavelic, wearing black and displaying Ustasha insignia.
The government has condemned the incident. A police investigation is under way.