MLINARIC STANDS BY DECISION ON VUKOVAR SOCCER TOURNAMENT

VUKOVAR, July 2 (Hina) - The chairman of the organising committee of the Vukovar war veterans' memorial youth soccer tournament, Petar Mlinaric, said on Wednesday he stood by the committee's decision not to allow a 14-year-old Serb boy to play in the tournament last weekend because of his ethnic background. "It was a memorial tournament of Croatian veterans, and Slavko Juric, representative of the Croatian Disabled War Veterans' Association (HVIDRA), requested that only the children of veterans who had defended Vukovar should play in the tournament," Mlinaric told Hina. The leader of the Independent Democratic Serbian Party, Vojislav Stanimirovic, condemned the incident on Wednesday, describing it as "a continuation of the policy of the Vukovar town authorities towards the Serbs in Vukovar." "This incident can be regarded as a form of racism against children, because some people are trying to apportion the blame of individuals to the entire Serbian people and their children," Stanimirovic said. Zdravko Komsic, president of the coordinating body of war veterans' associations from Vukovar, also condemned the incident. (hina) vm sb