SISAK: WAR VETERANS ASSOCIATIONS SUPPORT IRONWORKS' EMPLOYEES

SISAK, Nov 25 (Hina) - A coordinating body of Homeland War associations from Sisak County has demanded of Interior Minister Sime Lucin that police press charges against the people who caused the bankruptcy of Sisak's Ironworks. #L# The body has urged workers' trade unions to press charges against the members of the company management who are responsible for the current situation and dismissed claims that war veterans' associations have been manipulating the workers. The head of the coordinating body, Mario Marot, said at a news conference in Sisak on Monday that last week's protest of the Ironworks employees had been "a peaceful and dignified gathering". Marot believes that the government, and not local officials, is responsible for the situation in the Sisak-based company. "Croatia is a police state where intervention police have prevented the employees of the Ironworks and its Overhaul Caprag sector to exercise their constitutional right to peaceful gathering," Marot said, dismissing accusations that "the workers attacked the police". "We did not call on our members (war veterans) to support the protest because we did not want to be accused of manipulating the workers, but in the wake of accusations that Homeland War associations are behind the protest, there is no longer any reason why we should not call on our members to join the workers who have been cheated and deprived of their rights," Marot said. He added that members of war veterans associations had helped the workers during their 26-hour protest only by supplying them with food, juices and mineral water. (hina) rml sb