The largest anti-fascist demonstrations Croatia has seen in years have highlighted a widening rift between the country’s political left and right, as disputes over the wartime legacy of the Ustasha regime intensify. 

Thousands of people marched through central Zagreb on November 30, rallying against what organisers described as an emboldened far-right fringe and the state’s failure to curb nationalist symbolism. Sister protests were held in Rijeka, Pula and Zadar along the Adriatic coast.

Protesters carried banners reading “United Against Fascism” and chanted wartime partisans’ slogans, according to local media reports, as they called for a tougher response to a string of recent incidents — from intimidation at cultural events for the Serb minority to vandalism of memorials marking victims of the Ustasha regime, which ruled Croatia under Nazi auspices during World War Two.

Controversial salute 

The demonstrations followed a series of attacks earlier in the month, in which masked groups used the salute “Za dom spremni” (“For the homeland – ready”), a slogan linked to the Ustasha, to disrupt Serbian cultural events in Split, Zagreb and Rijeka. Police intervened in several cases, but rights groups say the incidents mark an escalation in both organisation and brazenness.

Although Croatia joined the European Union in 2013, rights monitors have warned for years about ambiguous messaging from officials regarding the country’s wartime past. The Council of Europe’s Anti-Racism Commission has repeatedly criticised what it describes as a “glorification” of Ustasha symbols and narratives.

The debate resurfaced forcefully in July when nationalist singer Marko Perković Thompson drew an estimated half-million fans at Zagreb’s Hippodrome, the largest public gathering in Croatia’s post-independence history. Media footage showed sections of the crowd giving the “Za dom spremni” salute. While the chant is illegal under Croatian law, courts have ruled Thompson may use it in a song referencing the 1991-95 independence war.

Human rights groups accused authorities of failing to condemn the displays, arguing the silence created the impression that the salute was tolerated. Opposition parties said the government had missed a rare chance to draw a clear line between remembrance of the 1990s conflict and historical revisionism.

Interior Minister Davor Božinović praised the security arrangements at the July concert but rejected claims the government was turning a blind eye. He also turned on critics, claiming they “labelled half a million Croatian citizens overnight”.

Political tensions harden

Since May 2024, the ruling conservative Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) has governed in coalition with the nationalist Homeland Movement, which opposes immigration and LGBT rights and has advocated restricting abortion.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković has repeatedly dismissed accusations that his party enables extremism, saying such claims are exaggerated. But his government has been forced into a series of awkward public interventions as far-right rhetoric bleeds into official ceremonies.

In July this year, Plenković criticised the mayor of Dubrovnik, an HDZ member, for ending a speech at a veterans’ memorial with the “Za dom spremni” salute, calling the gesture unacceptable and not reflective of party policy.

However, when Zagreb Mayor Tomislav Tomašević, a prominent green-left politician, warned in October that Thompson could be barred from performing in city-owned venues if he used the salute during a December concert. Plenković denounced the threat as “a bad joke” and politically motivated. The dispute further polarised the political landscape, with left-leaning parties accusing the prime minister of appeasing nationalist sentiment.

Serb minority fears rising hostility

Relations between Croats and the country’s Serb minority remain shaped by the 1991-95 war, when Serb forces sought to prevent Croatia’s independence. Although minority rights were a central condition of Croatia’s EU accession, anti-Serb sentiment has periodically flared.

In November, masked groups disrupted the Days of Serbian Culture in Split, targeted an exhibition in Zagreb, and attempted to break up a karate tournament in Rijeka involving a Serbian team. The glass frontage of an ethnic Serb community office in Split was smashed, and earlier in the year memorial plaques to wartime victims were defaced.

Serb community leaders say the pattern suggests a coordinated campaign of intimidation. Police have condemned the incidents, with Božinović saying officers “act quickly and professionally” to protect citizens “regardless of who is protesting and against whom”.

The latest protests reflect not only frustration with extremist incidents but also a broader struggle over how Croatia defines itself three decades after its war of independence.

The visibility of nationalist messages at major public events — and the reluctance of senior officials to condemn them unequivocally — has fuelled a perception that fringe ideas are moving closer to the mainstream. Meanwhile, the left-leaning opposition, fragmented in recent years, has seized on the issue as a rallying point.

The November 30 protests, which drew a broad coalition of civil society groups, may signal a more assertive pushback from Croatia’s anti-fascist and liberal constituencies. This is only likely to intensify the political divide, with the governing coalition dependent on nationalist partners and the wartime past still politically potent.