Protesti za Mirka Norca (2001)

Thousands of Croatian war veterans have jammed the square in front of the government building to protest against the prosecution of a former army officer suspected of war crimes. But the turnout was lower than expected, following indications that fugitive Major General Mirko Norac might soon surrender. He is still on the run, seven days after an arrest warrant was issued against him. The 33- year old Major General Norac was a commander during Croatia's 1991 war for independence from Yugoslavia. He is the highest ranking officer suspected of war crimes, accused of killing at least a dozen Serb civilians during the war. On Thursday, about 4-thousand people came to the St. Marco square in the capital Zagreb - a fraction of nearly 100- thousand that demonstrated in the southern coastal city of Split last Sunday. Most of the protesters were driven in to the capital by bus from other parts of Croatia. The rally, which included dozens of extreme nationalists who raised their hands for the Nazi salute and carried symbols of Croatia's World War II pro-Nazi puppet state, shouted support for Norac. But demonstrators also called on the government to step down, marking the first serious challenge to the barely one-year-old pro-Western government. Critics have accused the party, the Croatian Democratic Union, of exploiting the strong feelings, ignited by the government's uncompromising stand on war crimes prosecution, as a way of returning to power. Many Croats have difficulties in accepting that their compatriots also committed crimes in the 1991 war, which erupted when the country's Serbs took up arms to rebel against Croatia's independence from the former Yugoslavia. They also believe Norac was instrumental in defending the central Croatian city of Gospic from a Serb onslaught in the 1991 war.

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• Gospic
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