FOR BOŽINOVIĆ, THOMPSON'S CONCERT’S MAIN MESSAGE THAT CROATIA IS EUROPEAN!?

ZAGREB, July 6 /SRNA/ - For Croatia's Interior Minister Davor Božinović, the main message of Marko Perković Thompson's concert in Zagreb, where the Ustasha salute "For Homland-Ready!" echoed, is that Croatia is a European country.

Božinović described Thompson’s concert, which glorifies Ustasha crimes against Serbs, as "a celebration of unity, love for the homeland, and the values that bring people together." "Without division and with a clear message - Croatia is a democratic, European, and organised country where everyone has the right to their own music, identity, and peaceful gathering," Božinović said in a video he posted on social media regarding the concert, which Thompson opened with the song Bojna Čavoglave, shouting "For the homeland!" to which the crowd responded "Ready!" Božinović thanked all attendees and the thousands of people from various services involved in organising the concert, adding that even those who are not fans of this kind of music must admit "that this was a spectacle rarely seen anywhere in the world." Many Croatia’s officials attended the concert, including Speaker of the Croatian Parliament Gordan Jandroković and numerous HDZ MPs and officials. Police detained 123 people, 111 of whom for possessing pyrotechnics, with the rest detained for disturbing public order and peace. Ahead of the concert at Zagreb's Hippodrome, Thompson’s fans sang Ustasha songs in the city centre. Zagreb police did not react when a drunken man nearby sang the song Jasenovac i Gradiška Stara, which glorifies the slaughter of Serbs, Croatian media reported. Israeli Holocaust historian Efraim Zuroff stated in an op-ed for The Jerusalem Post that Thompson’s concert in Zagreb is a heinous insult to the victims of the Independent State of Croatia.