SLOVENE PROTESTERS STOPPED AT BORDER CROSSING WITH CROATIA

PLOVANIJA, Aug 31 (Hina) - As announced, about 50 Slovene protesters, mostly writers, academicians and cultural workers from Ljubljana, arrived at the Plovanija Slovene-Croatian border crossing to hold a peaceful protest in front of the house of Josko Joras, located in the Croatian village of Mlini, and to sign a petition to have Joras released from prison. The protesters who arrived to Plovanija on foot after having passed the Slovene border police, were, however, stopped by the Croatian border police who prevented them to enter Croatia and walk to Joras's house. #L# Josko Joras, a Slovene citizen residing in Croatia's Mlini in Istria County, was arrested on August 21 and sent to Pula County prison to serve a 30-day prison sentence because he failed to pay magistrate-ordered fees. Joras attracted media attention because he does not recognise Croatia's sovereignty even though he lives in Mlina in the Buje region. Joras claims that his house is on the Slovene territory. The head of the Buje police station, Neven Rabar, calmly and professionally explained to the Slovene protesters that the Croatian police could not allow them to enter the country since he could not at this time guarantee their safety around Joras's house. He warned them they had not even announced the protest with the Croatian police, and called on them to return to their homes. The meeting between Slovene protesters and Croatian police at the border crossing passed without incidents. The president of the Slovene World Congress's Slovene Conference, Franci Feltrin, who was among the protesters, said Joras's house was on Slovene territory and that they wanted to "commend him and his family for their brave stance with this march-past planned around his house". Two hours after they arrived at the border crossing, the protesters returned to the Slovene side of the border and held a Slovene poetry evening. (hina) lml