The leader of the anti-Cyrillic initiative in Vukovar, Tomislav Josic, called on protesters to disperse half an hour after noon on Monday after they prevented placing of dual-alphabet signs in this eastern Croatian town. At the end of today's protest he announced new actions if Cyrillic signs again appeared on public institutions.
Josic said that "Vukovar is a multiethnic town, in which nobody is barred from conducting (court and administrative) proceedings in their mother tongue or to get bilingual documents". However, dual-alphabet signs are "humiliating for Vukovar" and therefore unacceptable.
Another protester, Vlado Iljkic, said that activists, together with friends of Vukovar and those who defended the town in the war, removed dual-alphabet signs "by use of passive force". He praised police officers for "their professional conduct".
"We are sorry for an injured police woman, but the responsibility lies with those who gave her orders," Iljkic said.
The protesters forcibly removed dual-alphabet signs from the buildings housing the tax administration, the police station and the office of the state administration, despite the heavy police presence at those locations.
