The mayor of the eastern Croatian town of Vukovar, Zeljko Sabo, on Tuesday thanked all people who helped mark in a dignified way and without any incidents this year's Vukovar Remembrance Day, but expressed regret that the government provided only 200,000 kuna to organise the commemorations, criticising the ruling HDZ party for holding an election rally in Vukovar on November 20, the day when Vukovar residents remember the victims of the Ovcara atrocity.
The 20th anniversary of the suffering of Vukovar residents in the 1991-1995 Homeland War was marked in the period from November 11 to 20 under the slogan "Brave People".
Addressing a news conference, Sabo, a member of the Social Democratic Party, expressed regret that the government gave only 200,000 kuna for organising the commemorations even though they cost around one million kuna.
He said the government should have covered all costs considering the fact that the decision to declare November 18 Vukovar Remembrance Day was made by the parliament.
Sabo resented the fact that the HDZ held its election rally in Vukovar on November 20, the day when Vukovar remembers people killed on the Ovcara farm.
"I didn't expect such a thing from an honorary citizen of Vukovar (HDZ leader Jadranka Kosor). It was utterly inappropriate of HDZ members to sing and clap at the election rally in Vukovar in the evening of November 20. If she didn't know it, local HDZ members should have warned her about the fact that the Ovcara victims were killed in the evening of 20 November 1991," Sabo said.
The president of the Town Council, Tomislav Dzanak of the Croatian Party of Rights Dr Ante Starcevic, too, expressed dissatisfaction with the HDZ organising the rally on November 20.
