PUPOVAC: SHAMEFUL AND APPALLING INCIDENT IN SPLIT

ZAGREB, OCTOBER 16 /SRNA/ – Milorad Pupovac, president of the Independent Democratic Serb Party, described the behavior of Hajduk football club fans and their antisemitic chants as shameful and outrageous, saying the incident was the result of ignoring what had happened in the past.

Pupovac said the singing of a song about blast furnaces and Jews being loaded into them would fill anyone in the world with horror, as this had happened at Auschwitz and, in a somewhat more primitive form, at Jasenovac.

He stressed that responsibility lay with everyone in politics and society who had remained silent, downplayed such incidents or in some way supported or prepared the ground for this kind of escalation.

He added that the police could not succeed without the support of the judiciary and a clear public stance.

"This was also done by those who ignored earlier warnings, such as the marches in Knin following the celebration of Operation Storm, where threats were made against citizens of Serb nationality and Ustasha crimes were glorified. It was only a matter of time, and that time has come, before this was directed at Jews," Pupovac said.

He said the whole world still remembered horrific places such as Auschwitz, the gas chambers and the victims, adding that those who celebrated such atrocities were forgetting and relativizing them, Croatian media reported.

Split Mayor Tomislav Šuta said he was ashamed of what had taken place on the city's streets and condemned the incidents.

Last night, as they made their way to Poljud Stadium for a match against Dutch club Ajax, Torcida fans chanted "Auschwitz!", "Get up, Adolf!" and "Kill the Jews!" A car carrying a coffin marked "Ajax" led the procession.