Ivan Vekic, Croatia's war-time minister of the interior and now leader of a nonparliamentary political party called Hrvatska Straza (Croatian Guard), said in Osijek on Tuesday that the latest developments, including arrests of Croatian war veterans and their being taken in for questioning, would lead to protests of veterans' associations, adding that it was high time that all who planned to protest united.
Vekic told reporters his party would work on uniting all veterans' associations so they could stage a joint protest, while those associations would keep their legal personality and leadership until "they realise that it is unnecessary and form a single association whose power will be respectable also for the state authorities which are increasingly weakening the state's power."
"It can be only one association to lead to the streets 100,000 people, not to seize power, but to remove from power the incompetent and corrupt. Did we have to wait for Egypt to see how it's done?" said Vekic.
He reiterated that he would not reveal the date of the announced public protest for fear that it would be thwarted by the authorities.
Vekic said that not only war veterans, but also the unemployed, empoverished farmers and all others who had been deprived of their rights would take to the streets.
