His statement came in response to that of President Ivo Josipovic, who said earlier in the day that "if there is no desire to respect the law, then it has to be changed."

"Croatia assumed those commitments at the time of its international recognition and accession to international institutions. You cannot accept a piece of legislation on the international level and challenge it at home, or give an impression abroad that the rights of national minorities are respected, while they are being trampled upon," Pupovac told the press.

Commenting on Saturday's protest in Vukovar against the introduction of the Cyrillic alphabet in official use in the town, Josipovic said on Sunday that he expected political parties in the country, especially those that have participated in government, to explain to people why it was important to respect the Constitutional Law. "But if there is no desire to respect the law, then it has to be changed," he noted.

Josipovic also said that the introduction of minority languages and scripts was part of the platform of both the previous government, which involved the SDSS, and the present one.

Pupovac said the present government was the third one to have assumed this commitment from previous governments and included it in its program. "The Constitutional Law is being gradually implemented regarding bilingualism and the use of both Latin and Cyrillic alphabets, but someone has obviously decided for political reasons to stop it and turn into a political issue that upsets inter-ethnic relations and political tolerance and renews the rhetoric and atmosphere of war."

Pupovac supported the President's appeal to the political parties, but noted that state institutions should also stand up to those who did not respect the constitutional order and laws of Croatia and "who continue the war rhetoric and want to keep Croatia in a permanent state of war towards its national minorities, in this case the Serbs."

"How else can we explain the fact that people came to the Vukovar rally in military uniforms and with flags of wartime military units saying that there should not have been peaceful reintegration and that it all should have been dealt with in Operation Storm?" Pupovac said, expressing regret that Josipovic had not spoken about that.

"Media reported that the rally was held in a decent atmosphere, but those are very dangerous statements that resulted in an attack on a cafe and a young man being beaten up," Pupovac concluded.

Police confirmed on Saturday evening that a 21-year-old resident of Borovo was lightly injured in a fight outside a cafe in Borovo, near Vukovar, but denied that it was connected with the protest rally in Vukovar, which was held under the slogan "For Croatian Vukovar - No to Cyrillic Alphabet".