ZAGREB: Several thousand people rallied in Croatia’s capital on Sunday in an anti-fascist march protesting against the rise of World War II revisionism and far-right views in the country.
In recent months, Croatia has been seeing right-wing nationalists increasingly trying to impose their agenda, with subsequent incidents targeting the ethnic Serb minority and the use in public of the country’s World War II pro-Nazi regime salute.
In early November, masked men disrupted a Serb cultural event in Croatia’s second-largest city of Split, replicating the Ustasha salute.
Relations with ethnic Serbs have remained fragile since Croatia’s 1990s war with Belgrade-backed rebel Serbs who opposed its independence.
Hundreds of thousands gathered in Zagreb at a July concert of ultra-nationalist singer Marko Perkovic, known by his stage name Thompson,
One of Thompson’s most popular songs starts with the Ustasha salute and his fans are often adorned with affiliated symbols.
In the days that followed the concert, two MPs made the salute from the parliamentary podium, while in October the assembly hosted a round table that downplayed the number of Croatia’s WWII death camp victims.
“Fascists are no longer ashamed, nor do they hide,” the organizers of Sunday’s march said in a statement, calling for resistance to “violence, historical revisionism, and intimidation.”
More than 10,000 people rallied in Zagreb, according to organizers, while the police did not provide a figure.
“We currently have a problem with widespread revival of Ustasha ideology,” said protester Kristijan Kralj, an electrical engineering student.
The Ustasha organization persecuted and killed hundreds of thousands of Serbs, Jews, Roma and anti-fascist Croats.
Although their Independent State of Croatia (NDH) was a Nazi puppet state, their modern sympathizers see them as the nation’s founding fathers.
Dado Gazda arrived from Bjelovar, some 85 kilometers (53 miles) east of Zagreb to “support all these people in their fight against the far right.
“The time has come to say what is bothering us, why we are worried about our country,” he told AFP.
Chanting “We are all anti-fascists,” the marchers walked through central Zagreb on a sunny and cold day to the city’s main square, carrying a giant “United against Fascism” banner in front.
Similar marches were held in three other Croatian towns — Rijeka, Pula and Zadar — all on the Adriatic coast.
Croatia’s shifted right began after the April 2024 elections, when the right-wing Homeland Movement became a junior partner in the coalition government led by conservative Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic’s HDZ.
Thousands march in Zagreb against far right
https://arab.news/zubm9
Thousands march in Zagreb against far right
- Over 10,000 people rallied in Zagreb, according to organizers, while the police did not provide a figure
- ‘We currently have a problem with widespread revival of Ustasha ideology,’ said one protester
Ukraine’s Zelensky: We have backed US peace proposals to get a deal done
- “The tactic we chose is for the Americans not to think that we want to continue the war,” Zelensky told The Atlantic
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv had sought to back US peace proposals to end the war with Russia as President Donald Trump seeks to resolve the conflict before November mid-term elections.
Zelensky, in an interview published by The Atlantic on Thursday, said Kyiv was willing to hold both a presidential election and a referendum on a deal, but would not settle for an accord that was detrimental to Ukraine’s interests.
“The tactic we chose is for the Americans not to think that we want to continue the war,” Zelensky told the US-based publication. “That’s why we started supporting their proposals in any format that speeds things along.”
He said Ukraine was “not afraid of anything. Are we ready for elections? We’re ready. Are we ready for a referendum? We’re ready.”
Zelensky has sought to build good relations with Washington since an Oval Office meeting in February 2025 descended into a shouting match with Trump and US Vice President JD Vance.
But he said he had rejected a proposal, reported this week by the Financial Times, to announce the votes on February 24, the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion. A ceasefire and proposed US security guarantees against a future invasion had not yet been settled, he said.
“No one is clinging to power,” The Atlantic quoted him as saying. “I am ready for elections. But for that we need security, guarantees of security, a ceasefire.”
And he added: “I don’t think we should put a bad deal up for a referendum.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Zelensky is not a legitimate negotiating partner because he has not faced election since coming to power in 2019.
Zelensky has said in recent weeks that a document on security guarantees for Ukraine is all but ready to be signed.
But, in his remarks, he acknowledged that details remained unresolved, including whether the US would be willing to shoot down incoming missiles over Ukraine if Russia were to violate the peace.
“This hasn’t been fixed yet,” Zelensky said. “We have raised it, and we will continue to raise these questions...We need all of this to be written out.”
