The Serb minority flag was removed some time between Friday afternoon and 10 am on Saturday, when the police were notified, while all other flags were left in place, Marina Kolarić, spokeswoman for the Varaždin Police Department, confirmed to Hina. She said a criminal investigation was under way.
The incident was sharply condemned by Barbara Antolić Vupora, a member of the national parliament and head of the local branch of the SDP, who said that Varaždin should be a city of tolerance, culture and peaceful coexistence of all its citizens, including ethnic minorities.
Since this was not the first such incident, because the Serb flag had been removed from the same building last November, Antolić Vupora said that “someone is sending a message to some of the citizens of Varaždin that they are not welcome here.”
“I am confident such things would not happen if we taught our children tolerance from an early age through civic education in school. This case shows that society has failed in that regard,” she said.
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