Due to a protest by a group of veterans, a performance that was supposed to take place behind the City Library as part of the Nosi se u Benkovcu festival was cancelled, festival organiser and journalist Melita Vrsaljko announced, as reported by dnevnik.hr.
The Nosi se u Benkovcu festival was scheduled to take place from 22 to 29 August and, as the organisers described it, was intended to be “a tribute to empathy and peace in an atmosphere of a war pendulum”.
However, it appears that the “war pendulum” was set in motion just before the start of the festival on Friday in an attempt to prevent it from being held. A group of veterans, supported by members of the Zadar branch of Torcida, marched through the town and intimidated the organisers and performers of the festival.
Along with singing patriotic songs, the Ustasha salute was shouted, and there was also an attack on journalist and festival organiser Melita Vrsaljko.
“When I tried to film them from a public area, about 20 of them surrounded me and verbally insulted me. The police did nothing, they just watched in silence even though I called them to come. They called me a whore and said I should be thrown under a car, and one of them hit me trying to knock my phone out of my hand. During the march they sang songs and kept shouting ‘Za dom spremni’. We called the police but they did not react, even though they were present there. They could not control those people. Everything was chaotic. Visitors left the festival out of fear because the police could not stop them. They also told me to leave my city because they could not guarantee my safety. The police did nothing, they just watched in silence even though I called them to come,” Vrsaljko told 24 sata.
More can be read on dnevnik.hr.