"The Ustasha will not be allowed to enter Srb," Serb National Council (SNV) president Milorad Pupovac said on Monday in response to "the unprecedented rampage of Drazen Keleminec's pro-Ustasha A-HSP party" whose members, he said, have been harassing the residents of Srb for several days. Pročitaj više

Addressing a news conference, SNV officials said that a caravan, decorated with Ustasha symbols, had been parked for days in the centre of Srb, while local Serbs were being openly provoked.

Police have taken no action against the organisers of those provocations, but they have called in for questioning local residents, young men who have protested against Keleminec and his supporters, he said.

He called for putting an end to the harassment of the residents of Srb and visitors who will attend a commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the Srb uprising on Tuesday.

Pupovac said that Keleminec was intimidating and disturbing local residents, dishonouring the memory of the victims and the uprising itself, while displaying “symbols of hate and inciting hate and fear”.

Keleminec should be banned from entering Srb

Calling for police action and for barring Keleminec him from entering Srb, Pupovac said that Keleminec made unauthorised video-recordings of local residents and posted them on his Facebook wall, that he urinated in public and that his dogs were harassing local residents.

He warned that Keleminec was camping in an area not designated for camping and that he should face penalties also for displaying Ustasha symbols and for inciting hate and negating crimes and genocide.

“The Ustasha will not be allowed to enter Srb,” he said, adding, “We will find a way to prevent them from doing so.”

Pupovac said the problem of Ustasha insignia was not new in Croatia, adding that the ruling coalition and other political stakeholders should “finally summon the courage to say what that is and define its status in society.”

Antifascism that tolerates Ustasha insignia not antifascism

“That is one of the reasons why we gather in Srb. Antifascism that tolerates Ustasha insignia is not antifascism in the full and real sense of that word,” he said.

The uprising in Srb 80 years ago was not just an act of defence of the lives of local Serbs, it was the beginning of an armed brotherhood between the residents of Dalmatia and Lika, Croats and Serbs, who created a free territory, he said.

Pupovac said that guidelines regarding the relevant law and values had been given and that everyone was aware of them, “including the Prime Minister.”

“In Croatia there is a fear of the Ustasha and their symbols because some politicians tolerate them and a part of vital national institutions… do not consider it problematic. As long as that is so, Croatia will not be a free country. As long as that is so, I will be speaking about it,” he said.

He noted that entry to Srb was banned except for local residents and people who have a justified reason for visiting the town.

“I don’t know what that means, but just as I do not want Keleminec to be there, I do not want such a strong police presence there. We do not need it. We are peaceful people and want people in Srb to live in peace. We want to be able to commemorate those who were killed there and those who rose up to put an end to the killing and joined the resistance movement. We do not need police for that and we ask that conditions be created so they do not have to be there either,” he said.

SNV officials Aneta Vladimirov and Aleksandar Milosevic said that Keleminec had been holding protest rallies in Srb for years, displaying Ustasha symbols and harassing local residents while courts were not responding to criminal reports filed against him, with the first hearing in a case launched against him back in 2015 having been held only recently.