Thousands protest in Bosnia against Mass for Croatia’s pro-Nazi WWII regime

Thousands march in Bosnia to protest against a Mass being held to honor Croatia’s Nazi collaborators and civilians killed after World War II.

The annual service, usually held in Austria at the site of the Croatian regime’s last stand, was moved to Sarajevo because of coronavirus restrictions in Austria.

Croatian groups gather each year for the commemorations, co-organized by the Catholic Church in Bosnia and Croatia, often brandishing Nazi memorabilia.

The Nazi-hunting Simon Wiesenthal Center urged the Bosnian government to ban the Mass, labeling it a “travesty of memory and justice.”

The service provoked outrage from most political parties, Jewish leaders, the Serbian Orthodox Church and anti-fascist NGOs, who hold a march during the Mass in central Sarajevo.

“In Sarajevo, a multi-ethnic and anti-fascist city, there is no room for fascism,” local Jewish leader Boris Kozemjakin, who took part in the march, tells AFP.

Sarajevo Archbishop Vinko Puljic, who held the Mass in the Bosnian capital’s cathedral, earlier rejected the accusations and said praying for victims’ souls did not mean approval of their acts.

“No one has the right to neglect the victims for whom we pray today,” Puljic said during the Mass.

“We want that double standards in respecting the victims of hatred and massacre be stopped.”

Meanwhile, the marchers, who rallied despite a ban on public gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic, sing songs linked to the anti-Nazi struggle.

“Death to Fascism, Freedom to People!” they chant.

— AFP