The Austrian government has made a decision to ban additional symbols that are connected with the Ustasha regime, such as the flag and coat-of-arms of the Croatian Defence Forces (HOS), the Greens, a member of the Austrian government, said on Wednesday.

“A ban on two symbols of the Ustasha regime is already in force in Austria. However, it has transpired that, at the gathering in Bleiburg, not only symbols that are connected with the Ustasha are put on display, but also symbols of new fascist organisations such as the Ustasha successor organisation ‘Croatian Defence Forces’ (HOS). That is why the list of prohibited symbols has been expanded to include these symbols as well,” Greens MPs Olga Voglauer and Eva Blimlinger said in a statement.

The statement says that the decision to ban the display of HOS symbols in Austria’s territory was made at a government session today.

“The central memorial, the central fascist symbols and the form of the gathering will or have already been banned in their current form. These steps really constitute a turnaround. The decades-long fight of the Greens against this alleged commemoration and the related public display of Nazi symbols as well as current fascist symbols has eventually proven to be successful,” Blimlinger said.

She also notes that the standard in Croatia is that events at which HOS flags are displayed should not be held.

“Everyone should, just as Croatian President Zoran Milanovic has done on several occasions since last year, leave official events at which HOS symbols are displayed, let alone Ustasha symbols,” the Greens MP said as carried by the Austrian news agency APA.

Last week an expert commission made an analysis for the Austrian Ministry of the Interior recommending a ban on the gathering at Loibach Field in Bleiburg in its present form. Memorial masses are still allowed.

In recent years participants in the Bleiburg gathering have been repeatedly arrested for displaying Nazi and fascist symbols which are banned under the Austrian law.

A few years ago, Austria put on the list of prohibited symbols, which includes the swastika or the so-called Hitler salute, also symbols of the Ustasha regime, a Nazi-allied regime that ruled Croatia in World War II.