Vukovar

BELGRADE - Head of the Coalition of Refugee Associations Miodrag Linta said on Wednesday the most recent incidents in Vukovar where cyrillic parts of bilingual signs were covered by Croatian flags were a continuation of the production of fear and an attempt to maintain a warlike atmosphere.

Campaigners in Vukovar put large stickers with Croatian flags over Serb Cyrillic lettering on signs on official buildings in renewed protests after their bid to force a national referendum failed.

ZAGREB - Croatia will not hold a referendum on the official use of the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet after the country's constitutional court ruled the proposed referendum question as unconstitutional.

The Constitutional Court made the ruling on Monday after the parliament requested that the constitutionality of the announced referendum be assessed.

Ex-commander Gojko Eror pleaded not guilty to being responsible for the expulsion of non-Serb civilians from the village of Berak near Vukovar in 1991, some of whom were killed.

The head of a group campaigning against the official introduction of Serbian Cyrillic script in Vukovar was convicted of ordering the destruction of bilingual signs in the wartime flashpoint town.

VUKOVAR - Members of an association of war veterans from Vukovar put stickers with the Croatian flag on around 20 bilingual signs located on government buildings in that town, the Croatian media have reported.

A group of veterans came to Vukovar after a commemoration in Borovo marking the 23rd anniversary of the death of police officerc from Vinkovac, the news agency Hina said.

ZAGREB - The invitation to boycott shops in Vukovar owned by the local Serbs is a revitalization of fascism,several Croatian organizations have said and called on the government to condemn that action by the Headquarters for the Protection of the Croatian Vukovar,an organization that is famous for opposing the use of the Serbian Cyrillic scrip in Croatia.

BELGRADE - The Coalition of Refugee Associations in Serbia condemned Wednesday in the harshest terms a call for boycott of the Serb goods and shops in Vukovar, and urged the authorized state bodies in Croatia to institute proceedings against the initiators of the boycott.

ZAGREB - Headquarters for the Defense of Vukovar, a right-wing organization campaigning against official use of the Serbian Cyrillic script in Croatia, announced on Thursday that it will tour the country to convince the citizens that the referendum on bilingualism is neither unconstitutional, nor contrary to the position of the European Union.

VUKOVAR - A bilingual sign has been stolen from the wall of the building of the Municipal Court in Vukovar, while another 9 signs on other government institutions have been damaged, the local police have stated.