On Sunday, the Croatian national handball team defeated the Icelandic team and won the bronze medal at the European Men's Handball Championship, which is being held this year in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. The reception of the bronze medalists in the Croatian capital Zagreb - an event that is more likely to unite the nation - turned into a political scandal with wide-ranging dimensions. How and why did this happen?
Following the success of the Croatian handball players, the Municipality of Zagreb announced that it would organize a special concert to welcome them to the city on the central square “Ban Josip Jelacic“ in the city. A controversial moment in the team's welcoming ceremony, however, was the players' insistence that the Croatian nationalist folk rock singer Thompson, whose real name is Marko Perkovic, be included in the concert, notes Agence France-Presse.
Thompson's concerts have been banned in several countries because of his open support for the fascist Ustasha regime in Croatia during World War II, Agence France-Presse recalls. The Ustasha persecuted and killed hundreds of thousands of Serbs, Jews, anti-fascist Croats and Roma in Croatian concentration camps during World War II.
Thompson is a popular singer in Croatia, but also a controversial figure for his use of slogans used by the Ustasha regime. One of Thompson's most popular songs, which he performed last summer at a concert of thousands of people, described as the "largest in the country's history", begins with the greeting "For the Motherland - Ready!“ – a salute that is punishable under Croatian law and for which Perkovic was given special permission to use as part of his song.
After the players insisted on including Thompson in the concert, local authorities and Zagreb Mayor Tomislav Tomašević canceled the organized welcome for the handball players, citing an ordinance prohibiting the use of public space for events that promote or tolerate national, religious or racial hatred.
However, in response to the refusal, Croatia's Tourism Minister Tonči Glavina announced yesterday that the Croatian government and the Croatian Handball Federation had taken control of the organization and the event on the “ban Josip Jelacic“ square would take place – a move that drew sharp criticism from the municipality and Mayor Tomašević, who, quoted by HINA, described it as “institutional violence and a constitutional violation“.
At the same time, criticism also emerged against Tomašević himself. Ivan Penava, leader of the right-wing Fatherland Movement – one of the coalition partners in the country's government – criticized Tomašević and his opposition green-left party “We Can!“, saying that they were imposing an “ideological agenda“ and showing “contempt for everything Croatian“ in moments of “national unity, pride and patriotism”, HINA also reported. Other MPs and government representatives joined him, and Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said that the left-wing opposition in the country was following a “strategy of chaos“ in an attempt to convince people that nothing in Croatia is functioning and that the situation is catastrophic.
Amid the controversy that erupted yesterday at noon, the Zagreb Municipality announced, quoted by HINA, that they had received a report of a bomb planted in the city hall building, which is why it was evacuated, and the police have begun an inspection on site, as well as in the office of the “Moshem!“ party, due to possible suspicions that the signal was sent from there.
In the end, shortly before 6:00 p.m. local time (7:00 p.m. Bulgarian time) tens of thousands of people gathered in the central square in Zagreb to welcome the country's handball team. Nearly an hour after the start of the event, Thompson also joined the concert and greeted the handball players, stating: “You have brought us great joy. For me, you are Croatian knights – when you lost and when you won, and when various side things were happening around you, you remained like that“.