ZAGREB, May 8, 2018 – Some 200 participants of the Immortal Partisan Detachment march gathered in Zagreb’s Fascism Victims Square on Tuesday, carrying flags and photos of Franjo Tuđman, Josip Broz Tito and National Liberation Struggle fighters killed in WWII.
They marched towards Republic of Croatia Square, where they released 73 white peace balloons to mark the 73rd anniversary of victory over Nazism and fascism, displaying the flags of Croatia, the European Union, the Croatian Alliance of Antifascist Fighters and Antifascists (SABA), and the Croatian flag when it was part of the former Yugoslavia, as well as singing Partisan songs.
The march is aimed at raising public awareness of the people who gave their lives for a free Croatia in WWII, SABA president Franjo Habulin said, adding that the march was organised under the Immortal Partisan Detachment name on the occasion of Zagreb Liberation Day 73 years ago today. He said he was pleased with the turnout but hoped more people would attend in the years ahead.
The march started in Russia in 2012 and is being marked by 60 million people in 81 countries this year, said Elena Pilićeva Čorko, president of the coordinating council of Russians in Croatia and initiator of the Immortal Partisan Detachment. “There are marches all over the planet, in cities large and small. It is no longer a Russian but a world movement in honour of anti-fascism and victory over fascism,” she said.
On the occasion of victory over fascism and Zagreb Liberation Day, SABA’s and similar delegations laid wreaths and flowers at the National Heroes Mausoleum, the Kozara Children Monument and the partisan cemetery at Zagreb’s Mirogoj cemetery.
