NEWS 17 Jul 18

Nationalist Singer Joins Croatia Players at Homecoming Party

Marko Perkovic ‘Thompson’, a nationalist who has sung for war crimes defendants, partied with Croatia’s footballers on their homecoming bus and was invited to sing during celebrations of their World Cup second-place success.

Anja Vladisavljevic
BIRN
Zagreb
Croatia's national team celebrate on their bus in Zagreb on Monday. Photo: Beta/AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic.

Right-wing pop star Marko Perkovic, alias ‘Thompson’, joined the Croatian players on Monday evening as they travelled on an open-top bus from the airport to Zagreb’s main square along a route lined with cheering fans at their official homecoming celebration.

The bus spent more than five hours moving through the jubilant crowds, and when it finally reached a stage at the main square, Thompson sang a song unaccompanied, despite the fact that the director of the event had previously said that there would be no singers or politicians present.

Regional TV station N1 reported that the footballers invited Thompson onto their bus, and that Croatia’s star player Luka Modric invited him to sing once they reached the stage.

“We have another special wish - that is, that Marko gives us another song,” Modric said, hugging Thompson.

Local news site eVarazdin.hr also reported on Tuesday that a welcome-home gathering for national team coach Zlatko Dalic will be held in Varazdin, a town in which Dalic spent part of his career, and the local mayor confirmed that Thompson will perform there too.

 

Croatia’s second place at the World Cup in Russia - after losing 4-2 to France in the final - was the country’s best-ever performance in an international tournament and has sparked widespread jubilation.

But the appearance of the right-wing singer, whose concerts have seen expressions of anti-Serb hatred voiced by his audience, sparked controversy on social networks.

Kreso Beljak, the leader of the centrist opposition Croatian Peasant Party, wrote on Twitter that the right-winger should not be allowed to “spoil” the celebration.

Peter Murphy, a journalist for French news agency AFP in Hungary, suggested that Thompson’s appearance was bad for the country’s image, which has been enhanced by the national team’s success at the World Cup in Russia.

“When you're doing a piece on massive PR boost for Croatia from World Cup exploits and ultra-nationalist singer Thompson shows up on the open-top bus,” Murphy wrote on Twitter in a caption to photographs of Thompson hugging the Croatian players.

Concerts by Marko Perkovic – nicknamed ‘Thompson’ after the machine gun – have often caused controversy in the Balkan region.

In 2017, Thompson held a concert in the Bosnian town of Mostar in support of Bosnian Croat ex-officials on trial for war crimes, where around 8,000 people chanted the slogan “Za dom spremni” - (“Ready for the home[land]”), the slogan of Croatian WWII fascist Ustasa movement.

Authorities in the Slovenian town of Maribor banned Perkovic’s planned concert earlier that year, citing security risks.

At Perkovic’s concert during the 20th anniversary of Croatia’s victorious Operation Storm in 2015, many in the 80,000-strong audience chanted “Za dom spremni” and “Kill a Serb”.

In 2009, his performance of a song called ‘Jasenovac and Gradiska Stara’ – the names of Ustasa-run concentration camps – also caused outrage.

Read more:

Croats Chant Anti-Serb Slogans at Nationalist Concert

Croatian Singer Thompson Cleared of Fascist Slogan Offence

Croatia Lays on Heroes' Welcome For Unbowed Team


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