"This is a hate crime. It is a shame that women, children and the elderly are attacked. The Zadar hinterland must not any longer be a black hole in Croatia," he said.
Pupovac, together with another parliamentary deputy of the SDSS, Ratko Gajica, and an OSCE representative, on Tuesday visited the village where several drunken men had stoned four houses and attempted to set fire in a yard overnight. The police caught the perpetrators and they will be taken before an investigating judge.
Pupovac said today that he had discussed the incident with Croatian President Stjepan Mesic, Prime Minister Ivo Sanader and Interior Minister Ivica Kirin.
According to him, the Croatian premier was outraged by the incident, and Minister Kirin was embittered by the police conduct in previous similar incidents.
According to unofficial reports, the attackers are from the nearby village of Skabrnja where Serb rebels, supported by the then Yugoslav People's Army, had committed atrocities in 1991 when they massacred dozens of Croatian soldiers and civilians.
Pupovac said that Skabrnja had been a place where "a horrendous crime was committed" and that people who were attacked overnight in Biljani Donji were not responsible for that crime.
The SDSS parliamentarian expressed his disappointment with the failure of Zadar County Prefect Ivo Grbic and Benkovac Mayor Branko Kutija to come to Biljani Donji today.
According to a press release issued by the police in the Croatian coastal city of Zadar, the police received a call at about 2.50 a.m. that several unknown men were hurling stones at four family houses.
The police intervened quickly and caught the three perpetrators, who had also tried to set a fire near those houses. The fire burned dry grass and low bushes in a nearby yard but it was put out thanks to a rapid reaction of firefighters. According to the police, damage was caused, while the Serb People's Council explained that the window of the houses were damaged. The Serb People's Council (SNV) reported that the attackers used abusive language shouting "Where Are You, Chetniks?" and telling the returnees to go away.