The cake was a present for the 100th birthday of an antifascist leader.
Due to a cake in the shape of a red five-pointed star, which was meant to be a present for the 100th birthday of honorary president of the antifascists association Juraj Đuka Hrženjak, “a hostage situation developed” on Friday at the Dverce Palace in Zagreb, where the ceremony took place, reports N1 on March 11, 2017.
The celebration of the 100th birthday of the honorary president of the Union of Antifascist Fighters and Antifascists of Croatia got complicated due to the cake which surprised Mayor of Zagreb Milan Bandić. Interestingly, given that the Dverce Palace is owned by the City of Zagreb, it was Bandić who gave permission to the antifascists to organize the event at the one of the most beautiful palaces in Zagreb.
As explained by one of the guests, a member of the Antifascist League Drago Pilsel, the “battle” started at the very entrance to the palace where people who were carrying the cake had to wait for half an hour. After they finally managed to enter the palace, they were stopped on their way to the grand room where the birthday party was supposed to take place.
“We are currently located in a room where we are standing guard over the cake so that it is not damaged. We will not allow for it to be kidnapped. People from the city protocol do not want to let us enter the grand room”, said Pilsel at the time.
The room with the cake was blocked from all sides.
Pilsel added that, when Mayor Bandić finally appeared at the entrance of the palace, they tried to solve the problem with him, but he was not receptive to their demands. “There is no doubt that Bandić gave the directive about the cake”, said Pilsel.
Vili Matula, an actor and an activist, said that Bandić was at first polite, but then became angry and aggressive. He told them that “the times of saboteurs have passed”. “It is unbelievable that we cannot give a birthday cake in the shape of a red star”, said Matula.
“We are standing guard, and we will not leave the cake. Bandić is not allowing us to honour a partisan fighter. We have been detained in one of the rooms at Dverce”, wrote Eugen Jakovčić from NGO Documenta on his Facebook profile.
In the end, the five-pointed red star cake left the palace accompanied by security guards and was later taken to the premises of the Union of Antifascist Fighters and Antifascists.
