ZAGREB, August 6, 2019 - A dozen activists of several nongovernmental organisations on Monday afternoon held a protest rally in Zagreb's main square to express their sympathy with the victims of the combined military and police operation Storm in August 1995 when Croatia liberated areas in northern Dalmatia, Lika, Banovina and Kordun that had been controlled by Croatian Serb rebels for four years.
"We want to warn that the victory that is being celebrated in recent days is not indisputable and is not so magnificent. It was stained by crimes that have not yet been prosecuted," said activist Bojana Genov of the Women's Network Croatia.
We call for the prosecution of crimes and for defusing war rhetoric, and now when a quarter of a century passed since the war, the time has come to bring the relations back to normal and to develop peace-mongering rhetoric, Genov said.
She also said that during the Operation Storm ethnic cleansing had been conducted and that the future would be burdened unless war crimes were prosecuted.
Activist Nela Pamuković accused the Croatian leadership of hypocritical rhetoric.
"We insist that the government does not invest funds in the military industry and militarism but it should invest funds into the safety and security of all its citizens, into healthcare and other measures," Pamuković said.
Some of the passers-by made insulting comments about the protesters who carried a huge banner with the message "Crimes in Storm are the responsibility of all of us!", however no major incident happened.
More news about Operation Storm can be found in the Politics section.
