The police officer who had made a group of migrants chant football slogans has been suspended, while two of his colleagues, who also took part in the incident, will face disciplinary action due to improper behaviour and gross violation of office, the Interior Ministry reported on Tuesday.

The incident took place on Friday, March 6, in the town of Cetingrad near the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to the official police report, the police officers had caught a group of people near the Croatian side of the border and warned them they were there illegally and had to head back to Bosnia.

Noticing the group spoke English, one of the officers incited them to improper communication, recording it all on his mobile phone, the police said.

The recording, which found its way onto social media, showed the police officer inciting the migrants to shout “Dinamo Zagreb”, referring to the Croatian football club.

After the incident, the group headed back into Bosnia and Herzegovina territory.

Later on Tuesday, the Interior Ministry confirmed for N1 that the suspended police officer had also made the migrants shout “For the Homeland, Ready,” a controversial salute which was officially used during the Croatian fascist Ustasha regime during World War II.

Correction:

The previous version of this article said the police officer who incited the migrants to chant slogans was fired. According to the Karlovac County police union, the officer in question was not fired, but suspended instead, pending “regular disciplinary procedure before the disciplinary court.”

The head of the police union, Jozo Lovric, said on Wednesday that the “footage should not have been posted online since it showed migrants, but that it often happens to police officers that an inappropriate workplace joke results in firing instead of a milder disciplinary action, which they consider excessive.”

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