MEETING OF SUPPORT FOR GENERAL NORAC HELD IN OSIJEK

OSIJEK, Feb 11 (Hina) - Croatian Homeland War veterans' associations on Sunday organised a meeting of support for retired Croatian army general Mirko Norac, under the slogan "We Are All Mirko Norac." The meeting, which the organisers say gathered between 5,000 and 10,000 people from 12 Croatian counties, adopted conclusions demanding, among else, that an end be put to the vilification of the Homeland War and the equating of Croat victims and Serbian aggressors, as well as that laws preventing further arrests and conviction of Croatian soldiers be adopted. A Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) deputy and war-time president of the Slavonija and Baranja crisis headquarters, Vladimir Seks, said the rally was a "protest against the trampling on the dignity of Croatian soldiers and volunteers and against those who will not realise that Mirko Norac is a symbol of the Homeland War and Croatia's defence." The HDZ deputy dismissed accusations that the defence of the dignity of Croatian generals and the Homeland War was a coup d'etat. Other speakers at the rally, too, stressed the aim of the protest meetings was not to prepare a coup d'etat but protect Croatia's independence and sovereignty, which, they say, have become jeopardised during the one-year mandate of the current authorities. The names of the president of state Stjepan Mesic and prime minister Ivica Racan, which were mentioned during the speeches a couple of times, provoked loud catcalls and shouts "The red bandits!" and "Down with the traitors!" and the chanting of late president Franjo Tudjman's name. (hina) sb rml