PROTEST AGAINST USTASHA MONUMENT IN SLUNJ PREVENTED

SLUNJ, Dec 10 (Hina) - About 200 people on Monday prevented representatives of several non-governmental organisations to peacefully protest in Slunj against the monument to Jura Francetic, erected last year to commemorate the Black Legion Ustasha leader. The disgruntled Francetic supporters, who sang Ustashi songs, were pushed 20 metres back by police so the NGO representatives could reach the monument, which they refused under the circumstances. Vesna Terselic, chairwoman of a committee initiating the removal of the monument and director of Zagreb's Peace Studies Centre, said: "It is very important for the monument to be removed, but it is equally important for it not to happen against the will of Slunj's residents". She explained the NGOs did not intend to remove the monument, but to encourage the residents to discuss the unacceptable exalting of Ustasha criminals. NGO representatives handed a petition to Slunj Mayor Ivan Bogovic, requesting the removal of the Francetic monument. They expressed regret that the mayor did not join in their protest. The inscription on the contentious monument reads: "Glory to the deceased legendary fighter against the Chetniks". "I see that people here are imbued with nationalist ideology, but the Homeland War and the Ustasha movement have nothing in common, for through the Homeland war we fought for a new, European Croatia, while Jure Francetic fought, together with the Chetniks, against anti-fascism which was adopted by the entire developed world," said the president of the county association of anti-fascist veterans, Martin Jandresic, who was a partisan in WWII and an officer of the Croatian army. (hina) lml sb