ZAGREB ON OCT. 20 ZAGREB, Oct 2 (Hina) - The Headquarters for the Protection of the Dignity of the Homeland War and the HVIDR-a association of disabled war veterans have called on war veterans and all citizens to participate in an
Oct. 20 rally in Zagreb to protest "the incumbent authorities' conduct" which they consider "traitorous." At a press conference on Tuesday, Headquarters president Lt. Col. Mirko Condic read a proclamation to the Croatian people and all Croatian citizens which criticises some of the government's steps in several items, of which each ends by telling citizens: "You decide". The proclamation accuses the government of ignoring 400,000 signatures collected for a referendum on the equation of Croatian war veterans with those of the victorious and liberating Allied armies. "We oppose the extradition of General Ante Gotovina whose indictment prosecutes Croatia and the Croatian people," reads the proclamation.
ZAGREB, Oct 2 (Hina) - The Headquarters for the Protection of the
Dignity of the Homeland War and the HVIDR-a association of disabled
war veterans have called on war veterans and all citizens to
participate in an Oct. 20 rally in Zagreb to protest "the incumbent
authorities' conduct" which they consider "traitorous."
At a press conference on Tuesday, Headquarters president Lt. Col.
Mirko Condic read a proclamation to the Croatian people and all
Croatian citizens which criticises some of the government's steps
in several items, of which each ends by telling citizens: "You
decide".
The proclamation accuses the government of ignoring 400,000
signatures collected for a referendum on the equation of Croatian
war veterans with those of the victorious and liberating Allied
armies.
"We oppose the extradition of General Ante Gotovina whose
indictment prosecutes Croatia and the Croatian people," reads the
proclamation.
It asks if Croatian citizens will allow the signing of border
agreements detrimental to Croatia which "the incumbent authorities
have already accepted", and adds the government "is carrying out
the dictate of the International Monetary Fund to the detriment of
the Croatian people."
The Headquarters also states that "incumbent rulers did not want
Croatia nor did they contribute to its creation." They are not taken
to task for not joining in the defence of the homeland but we who
defended it are persecuted, the paper reads.
It calls on citizens to join in the Zagreb rally and asks: "will we
keep quiet or seek what, under the Croatian Constitution, we are
entitled to?"
The Zagreb protest has not been organised due to dissatisfaction
with the new law on war veterans' rights, as previously announced,
but due to discontent with the government's conduct, said HVIDR-a
president Marinko Liovic, who accused the authorities of "the loss
of Croatian sovereignty and independent identity."
Police have been informed around 1,000 people will attend the
rally, Liovic said.
(hina) ha sb