Bosnia and Herzegovina: Mass in memory of Ustashas, ​​allies of the Nazis, provokes an uproar

A demonstrator holds up a sign against fascism and a mass in honor of the Ustashas, ​​in Sarajevo, May 16, 2020. Dado Ruvic / Reuters

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Thousands of people protested in Sarajevo against a mass in homage to the Ustasha fascist executioners of the Second World War. The demonstrators calmly defied the police ban. 

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With our correspondent in the region,  Laurent Rouy

Anti-virus masks on the nose, the protesters held up banners against fascism in the streets of Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, this Saturday. 

Beside them, a macabre poster depicted a dozen hanged men, photographed in black and white in 1945. Their executioners: the Ustasha fascists , allies of Adolf Hitler, whom a mass in the Sarajevo cathedral on Saturday May 16 attempted to rehabilitate , a few hundred meters away.

Protesters pay tribute to the victims of the Ustashas, ​​allies of the Nazis during the Second World War, in Sarajevo on May 16, 2020. Dado Ruvic / Reuters

Croatian nationalist right honors Ustashas

During the Nazi debacle, the fleeing Ustashi were executed by the thousands in the village of Bleiburg, on the Austrian border. But for the nationalist government  now in power in Croatia , the Bleiburg massacre is above all a communist crime. Conservative Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic practices Holocaust denial and even honored these special victims at a ceremony held on Friday May 15.

But for the first time, the commemoration was exported to the Sarajevo cathedral. Only 20 worshipers took part - including the Croatian ambassador anyway - but the ceremony was rebroadcast by Croatian media.

It was too much for the people of Sarajevo, who blocked the city center. According to protesters, the Croatian right is using the memory of the Ustashas for its campaign, while elections are looming in Croatia. "  Death to fascism, freedom to the people  " chanted the crowd, a few meters from the doors of the Sarajevo cathedral.

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  • Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Croatia

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