At today’s meeting of the Committee on Naming of Street and Squares, the proposal to rename the Marshal Tito Square did not pass.
The proposal of city assembly members from HDZ, HSP-AS, and BUZ to rename the Marshal Tito Square in Zagreb into the Theatre Square was not adopted during a meeting of the Assembly Committee on Naming of Streets and Squares. Therefore, the proposal will not be discussed at the next session of the City Assembly, reports Večernji List on November 16, 2016.
The proposal was supported by the Chairman of the Committee Ivan Ćelić (HDZ) and Alen Ostojić (HSLS). Željko Kvesić (SDP) and Vesna Sudar (HSU) were against, while Sunčana Rupnik Blažeković (Bandić Milan 365) abstained. Her vote was decisive, since it was not clear whether Zagreb Mayor Bandić and his assemblymen and assemblywomen would support the proposal. The only member who took part in the debate was Ostojić, who said that the original initiative for renaming was launched in 1996 by former HSLS president Dražen Budiša, but it was never discussed at a assembly meeting.
The proposal was explained by Speaker of the Assembly Andrija Mikulić (HDZ), who noted that, through its long history, the most beautiful square in Zagreb has often changed its name, but it has for the last 64 years had the name of Marshal Tito, “"a man whom the vast majority of citizens of Zagreb and Croatia believe is not worthy of having any public area in Croatia named after him, particularly not a square in the centre of the city”.
He noted that the role of Josip Broz Tito, “the ideological leader, policy and decision maker in former totalitarian and authoritarian Communist regime”, resulted in persecution, torture, imprisonment and killing tens of thousands of Croats and Croatian citizens, including hundreds and thousands of citizens of Zagreb.
“In such context and under the impression of the discovery of hundreds of mass graves on the territory of Croatia and former Yugoslavia, which prove that Tito was the most responsible person for the committed mass crimes and persecution of political and ideological opponents, now when we are a member of the EU and we live in a democracy, we must not and we cannot allow the most beautiful square in Zagreb to be named after the Yugoslav communist dictator”, he said.
After the vote, Mikulić told reporters that Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić did not keep his word. “I would say that this is a shame for the Mayor. No wonder there are no investments in Zagreb, because who is going to invest in a city when the mayor can change his mind overnight. He was not strong, brave and clear enough to say what was discussed”, he stressed.
“They apparently feared the decision of the Assembly, which I am convinced would make a decision to change the name of the square. They obviously cannot reject the name of the Marshal Tito Square and finally rename it to the Theatre Square, which was the square’s name until 1945”, said Mikulić. Commenting on Bandić’s earlier statement that he would propose a referendum about the idea, Mikulić said that Bandić suggested it because he knows that the referendum will fail and it would cost a lot.
