ZAGREB, Oct 20 (Hina) - The mortal sin of the incumbent authorities is the "devaluation and demonising of the joint struggle for the freedom of the Croatian people and the imposition of an non-existent guilt for the war in this
region," a speaker at a protest rally in downtown Zagreb said on Saturday. The authorities do not comply with parliament's declaration on the 1990s war, Lt. Col. Mirko Condic, the president of the organiser, the national headquarters for the protection of Homeland War values, said in his address at the "Time's Up" rally in Ban Jelacic Square. Condic pointed to what he labelled an unimaginable media campaign against and demonising of war veterans. He sees Croatia's law on cooperation with the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague as counter-constitutional, and amendments to the law on the rights of national minorities, which grants minorities the dual right to vote, as the
ZAGREB, Oct 20 (Hina) - The mortal sin of the incumbent authorities
is the "devaluation and demonising of the joint struggle for the
freedom of the Croatian people and the imposition of an non-
existent guilt for the war in this region," a speaker at a protest
rally in downtown Zagreb said on Saturday.
The authorities do not comply with parliament's declaration on the
1990s war, Lt. Col. Mirko Condic, the president of the organiser,
the national headquarters for the protection of Homeland War
values, said in his address at the "Time's Up" rally in Ban Jelacic
Square.
Condic pointed to what he labelled an unimaginable media campaign
against and demonising of war veterans.
He sees Croatia's law on cooperation with the UN war crimes tribunal
in The Hague as counter-constitutional, and amendments to the law
on the rights of national minorities, which grants minorities the
dual right to vote, as the source of many problems.
"To the orchestrated language of hatred from top officials, in
which Vesna Pusic, Radimir Cacic, Ivica Racan, Ivica Pancic, and
Stjepan Mesic are the loudest, we have answered with a peaceful
protest and the truth," said Condic.
He reiterated several times that his headquarters did not encourage
violence. "The headquarters' wish for free and independent Croatia
is not an incitement to chaos or the language of hatred," he said.
Speaking about a Hague tribunal indictment against Gen. Ante
Gotovina, Condic said the war veterans would not surrender either
Gotovina or any Homeland War hero before hearing what the people had
to say about it in a referendum.
He called on the authorities to call a referendum on the basis of
400,000 signatures gathered when the headquarters demanded equal
treatment for Croatia's Homeland War veterans as that given the
anti-fascist coalition after World War Two.
(hina) ha sb