The exceptional Saturday concert of singer Mark Perkovič on a racing track in Zagreb triggered criticism for the use of a greeting from the time of the Ustashi regime during World War II. TASR writes according to AP.
There were more than half a million people at a concert in the Hipodrom area at the Sava River, the organizers reported on Sunday. Zagreb has about 800,000 inhabitants. The singer is known under the nickname Thompson (according to the American automatic rifle) and described his three -hour concert as a “music and patriotic performance”. It was accompanied by a spectacular light show and fireworks.
“I would like to send a message to Europe to return to my traditions, to my Christian roots, because only in this way Croatia can be strong again,” the singer said at the beginning of the concert.
Songs are associated with nationalists
Thousands of police officers were supervised by safety and there were five thousand security guards directly in the area. The prepared field hospital had a capacity of 200 people and Zagreb hospitals were prepared for increased onslaught. However, no serious incidents have been reported.
Thompson also sings songs that were created during the war after the announcement of Croatia’s independence in 1991. They are associated with the Croatian nationalist scene and the glorification of the fascist regime during World War II. On Saturday there was also a song with the Ustashov war greeting “for the house Spremni” (for the homeland, ready).
The greeting is considered the equivalent of the Nazi “Sieg Heil” and in Croatia is criminal. According to a court decision, Perkovič can use it as part of her song, Croatian state television HRT said. At the concert, the audience responded with a loud shout.
The concert also criticizes Serbia
The Večerji letter wrote that “an excellent organization” of the concert was overshadowed by using a regime greeting that agreed to “mass executions of people”.
Whatever the modern interpretations of greeting, its roots reach “undoubtedly” into the era of the Ustashi regime, the N1 television noted. She recalled that “the Germans made a clear cut” and cut off from everything related to the Nazis “to prevent crooked interpretations and return to the dark past … Croatia is far from approaching this level in 2025”.
In the neighboring Serbia, President Aleksandar Vučić criticized Perković’s concerts as a speech to “support of pronacist values”. Former Serbian liberal leader Boris Tadič said it is “a great shame for Croatia” and “European Union” because the concert “celebrates killing members of one nation, in this case Serbian”.
