President and prime minister voice indignation over far-right attack on Serbian folk dance and choir in the city of Split – as opposition insists the government bears responsibility for growing nationalist intolerance. Croatian President Zoran Milanovic condemned the violent disruption on Monday night of a folk performance held as part of the Days of Serbian Culture in Split, Croatia’s second-largest city.
The event was marred when a group of around 50 men dressed in black and in balaclavas stormed the venue and threatened both performers and spectators.
Eyewitnesses reported that they shouted the slogan “Za dom spremni” (“For the Homeland – Ready”), a salute used by the Nazi-allied Ustasha regime in Croatia during World War II. “This is a punishable offence and they should be held accountable. There is a scoundrel of my age among them, they should be located, extradited and sentenced … so they don’t think of doing it again. They shouldn’t be given too much publicity, they crave it,” Milanovic said.
Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic also condemned the incident, while rejecting accusations from the opposition.
“This government is certainly not, as the political left is trying to suggest, a government that advocates historical revisionism, that promotes the Ustasha ideology, or that tolerates it, or is ‘letting some kind of genie out of the bottle,’” Plenkovic said.
“Therefore, I strongly reject all the claims made by the political left-wing opposition, I condemn this incident in the strongest possible terms, and I expect the police and the State Attorney’s Office to prosecute those responsible,” he added.
The Social Democratic Party, SDP, Croatia’s main opposition party, also issued a statement calling the incident a disgrace and blaming the government led by the centre-right Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ.
“What happened last night in Split is a disgrace for Croatia, a country that prides itself on democracy and European values, while masked hooligans march freely, chanting fascist slogans and persecuting minorities, as the authorities remain silent,” the SDP said.
Shortly after the incident, the news outlet Novosti posted two videos from the scene on its YouTube channel. In one, a man can be heard telling attendees to leave, claiming that “no one will be harmed”, while another video shows a participant shouting “Serbian trash”.
According to Split police, the intruders were mostly younger men. Unofficial reports suggest the group may have included members of Torcida, fans of Hajduk, a football club from Split.
Nikola Vukobratovic, president of Prosvjeta, the Serbian Cultural Society staging the events, said he was shocked by the hostility.
“This was a folk performance by a children’s dance group [from Novi Sad, Serbia] and a retirees’ choir,” he said. “It’s especially disturbing that, as seen in the footage, the participants were practically negotiating their safe exit from the building as if they were hostages.”
Despite the disruption, the society said the Days of Serbian Culture was to continue on Tuesday. It called on Split residents to “resist the madness that our city, our guests, the children from Novi Sad, and above all our fellow citizens of Serbian nationality do not deserve.”
The attack is the latest in a series of far-right incident reported in Crotia since the summer. The president of the Serbian National Council, SNV, Milorad Pupovac, arrived in Split on Tuesday under police escort. Pupovac said he had not requested protection, and the decision was made by the police. Pupovac added that, following the violent incident in Split, the SNV had held late-night discussions and was considering their next steps.