Lints condemns burning of Croatian flag

BELGRADE - The president of the Coalition of Refugee Associations in Serbia, Miodrag Linta, condemned Wednesday's incident in which leader of the Radical Party of Serbia Vojislav Seselj set fire to a Croatian flag in front of the Palace of Justice in Belgrade, as this harms Serbia's international reputation and normalization of relations with Croatia.

We respect Croatia's territorial integrity and advocate establishment of a permanent dialogue between Belgrade and Zagreb, with the aim of solving the many problems of injured parties and other open issues, Linta said.

He said he expects Croatian officials to always condemn manifestations of the Ustashe and hate speech in public life, at sports matches and concerts of folk music.

Linta particularly pointed to the village of Cavoglave, where over 100,000 Croats gather on every August 5, singing Ustasha songs and chanting Ustasha salute "For the homeland - ready!", to openly celebrate crimes against Serbs and their expulsion.

Not one Croatian official has condemned the events in Cavoglave so far, although this is strictly forbidden by EU regulations, Linta pointed out.

Photo Tanjug, Z. Zestic (archive)