Relay for Tito Leaves Croatia En Route to Belgrade

Relay in honour of Tito heads to Belgrade

The old Yugoslav slogan of 'Brotherhood and Unity' was back in style for at least for an hour in Umag, with people in the crowd wearing blue pioneer caps and badges with Tito's portrait.

Banners carried by some read: 'Tito, the legend of socialism never dies' and "Brotherhood and Unity - foundation of our nations'.

According to Croatian media, 69-year-old Rade Ilic, driving in a 30-year-old Mercedes decorated with pictures of Tito, will lead the relay to Belgrade.

"The goal of our relay team is the removal of barricades and for the brotherly people of the former state to come closer together," Ilic told reporters ahead of the start of the relay in front of the "Tito" bar.

Making its way from Umag through the Croatian towns of Noigrad, Porec, Buzet, and Kumrovec, Tito's birthplace, the relay is expected to arrive in Belgrade on May 25 in honour of the birthday of Josip Broz Tito, who led Yugoslava from 1945 until his death in 1980.

The relay is a hold-over from Yugoslav times, when young people made a similiar yearly trek on foot through all of Yugoslavia that ended in Belgrade with a massive celebration.