Report describes "chaos, Ustasha orgy" at Knin celebration

Report describes "chaos, Ustasha orgy" at Knin celebration

"It all looks like a fairground. Everyone who is not from the HDZ (party), except Milan Bandic, is being whistled at. He and HDZ President Tomislav Karamarko received a large round of applause, while the most adored one is Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic. Everyone rushed toward her, wanting to touch her. Everyone else has been brutally whistled at and insulted. In this entire chaos, nobody's paying any attention to the veterans," said the report.

Previously, a monument to former Croatian President Franjo Tudjman was unveil - when his son Miroslav, who was taken ill during a mass service - and Grabar-Kitarovic "released white doves" in front of it. According to the website, beside the insults targeting "Croatian politicians that are not members of the HDZ," the gathering also saw "an Ustasha orgy."

Ustashas were in power in the Nazi-allied WW2-era Independent State of Croatia (NDH), an entity that ran the Jasenovac death camp complex.

The Ustasha greeting, "For Home - Ready," was also heard from "several of those gathered at the main square in Knin," as were "nationalist chants and songs." One of those has the lyrics, "We Croats don't drink wine, we drink the blood of Chetniks from Knin."

"Messages of hostility are being sent from the marking of the 20th anniversary of Storm and an atmosphere of fear is being spread. Josip Leko is the only among top state leaders who attended the mass and is not close to the HDZ. There was also applause during the mass for Marko Perkovic Thompson," the website said, in reference to the Croatian entertainer who glorifies the Ustasha.

Index's reporters also noted that Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic was "taken outside only an hour after the ceremony had finished," as Milanovic's security waited for "most of the potential provocateurs to disperse."

Milanovic and his associates did not attend the mass, led by the Catholic Cardinal Josip Bozanic. This religious dignitary asked during the service "how anyone can refer to Operation Storm as ethnic cleansing."