Croatia faced growing condemnation on Thursday and Friday over a planned protest by members of the Torcida football fan group and war veterans, who intend to rally in Split on Saturday in support of men arrested for disrupting a Serbian cultural event.
Officials and civic groups called the protest a “disgrace for Croatia.” The men were detained earlier this week after storming the celebration of the “Day of Serbian Culture,” shouting nationalist slogans.
Hours after the arrests, anti-Serb graffiti reading “Kill the Serb” and “Get out of Croatia” appeared on a school sports hall in Split, prompting police investigations.
Interior Minister Davor Božinović said authorities were monitoring the situation but noted that the protest did not require formal registration. Split Mayor Ivica Puljak condemned the incident, saying the city must reject hate speech and violence.
The tensions come amid rising nationalist rhetoric, with Serb minority leader Milorad Pupovac warning that parts of Croatian society “want a country of black uniforms and crosses drawn by swords.”
Milorad Pupovac, leader of Croatia’s Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS), said on Friday he had received renewed death threats and warned of a growing wave of hate speech and nationalist sentiment in the country.
Speaking to N1 television, Pupovac said the threats, which his party reported to police, had become more frequent. “The level of hate speech and direct death threats has increased. You can’t say anything publicly without someone responding with hatred and threats,” he said.
Referring to last week’s disruption of the “Days of Serbian Culture” event in Split, where nationalist chants were heard, Pupovac said the attack showed “how some people refuse to face what they really want and why.” A protest by Torcida football fans in support of those detained for the incident is planned for Saturday.
He warned that some political groups were trying to “redefine Croatia.”
“There are forces for whom the current constitutional order and national identity of Croatia are unacceptable,” he said. “They imagine a Croatia where the black uniform is the basic attire, the sword with a cross the main symbol, and the ‘For the Homeland Ready’ salute a legitimate part of history.”
Pupovac urged the government and parliament to act against what he called “the extension of wartime culture” and to prevent the radicalisation of young people.
He also said that, despite examples of cooperation, parts of Croatian politics continue to portray the Serb minority as “archenemies.”