[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 31 (Thursday, March 19, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E428-E429]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     CROATIAN POLICE ATTACK PROTESTORS AT PEACEFUL TRADE UNION RALLY

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 19, 1998

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, today I am sharing with my colleagues various 
newspaper articles related to a recent peaceful rally in which 
protestors were attacked by Croatian police. It was reported in the 
Federal Tribune that there were between 12,000 to 14,000 policemen from 
throughout Croatia brought in to control an estimated 10,000 to 30,000 
protestors. The rally was organized by the largest trade union in 
Croatia and several opposition political parties. The reported focus of 
the rally were issues of high unemployment and poor living conditions 
for workers and retirees, while at the same time it has been reported 
that Croatia's President Franjo Tudjman has amassed a considerable 
fortune for himself and his family. I am also inserting into the Record 
an informative article released this week by Jack Anderson and Jan 
Moller entitled, ``Croatian Seeks To End Human-Rights Abuses.''

                     [From BBC News, Feb. 21, 1998]

                   Croatian Police Deny Demo Injuries

       The Croatian Interior Ministry has denied reports that 
     police used force against demonstrators during a mass protest 
     in the capital Zagreb.
       Tens of thousands of people took part in what is described 
     as the largest rally the nation has seen, against growing 
     poverty and unemployment.
       The government banned the demonstration from main city 
     square, Ban Jelacic square, deploying hundreds of police with 
     riot gear to prevent the crowd from gaining access.
       Protesters threw apples and eggs at officers and a shop 
     window was shattered.
       An Interior Ministry statement, carried by the official 
     news agency HINA, contradicted Croatian radio and TV reports 
     that several people were being treated in hospital for 
     injuries.
       Five police staff were also reported injured.
       The demonstration was organized by three trade unions and 
     backed by 10 opposition parties.
       Correspondents say about 10,000 protesters moved to 
     Marshall Tito square, also known as Theatre Square, where 
     they held an hour-long meeting.
       The head of the Croatian Workers Trade Union, Boris Kunst, 
     said he was saddened that the Croatian police had raised 
     their hands against the protesters.
       ``These people that gathered here are those who defended 
     Croatia,'' he said. ``But they cannot live off their 
     salaries, while the others are decorating their palaces and 
     are stealing from us.''
       Protesters called on ministers to reduce their own salaries 
     and scrap the newly-introduced 22% value added tax which has 
     seen prices increase on basic goods including food.
       Correspondents say Croats have been reluctant to 
     demonstrate against the government, lead by President Franco 
     Tujman, since the country achieved independence through a 
     devastating war in 1991.
       But dissatisfaction among citizens is mounting as the 
     majority of them face post-war poverty.
       An unemployment rate, which independent analysts say tops 
     23%, is at the center of public grievances.
       As the rate rises a new wealthy elite, consisting mainly of 
     businessmen favored by the government or ruling party 
     members, has emerged.


     
                                                                    ____
                     Vecernji List--March 18, 1998

       ZAGREB. President of the United American Trade Union 
     headquarters AFL-CIO John J. Sweeney sent a letter to the 
     President of the Republic of Croatia Franjo Tudjman 
     protesting confiscation of the trade union's property. Mr. 
     Sweeney appealed to the government of Croatia that it was 
     urgent that they change their position and rescind their 
     orders under the ``law of unions'' in relation to the trade 
     union's property, and withdraw their decision about 
     nationalization of the trade union's property, declared the 
     International Department of the Association of the 
     Independent Trade Unions in Croatia, the largest association 
     of trade unions in Croatia.

                  Die Tageszeitung--February 24, 1998

       BERLIN, Federal Republic of Germany. At the peaceful rally 
     in Zagreb, which was organized by the Association of Workers' 
     Unions and several political opposition parties, on Friday, 
     February 20th in the capital of Croatia, Zagreb, were tens of 
     thousands of people who protested against social and economic 
     policy and unemployment. The target of this protest was 
     Croatian President Franjo Tudjman and the government of the 
     ruling party, HDZ, who were proclaimed responsible for the 
     poor living conditions of workers, retirees and unemployed 
     persons. People shouted ``Tudjman is Sadam'' and ``All of you 
     are thieves''. People were angry and resisting the selling of 
     many factories to leading members of HDZ for symbolic money 
     and that the current value of the private property of the 
     President and his family is more than $1 billion.

                     Die Presse--February 28, 1998

       VIENNA, Austria. A Press Correspondent from Zagreb reported 
     that President of Croatia, Dr. Franjo Tudjman has property of 
     several billion dollars in German marks and this was the 
     reason for the large workers' demonstration in Zagreb's 
     streets. It is very

[[Page E429]]

     important that the trade unions want to change policy through 
     their demonstrations.


     
                                                                    ____
               Croatian Seeks To End Human-Rights Abuses

                   (By Jack Anderson and Jan Moller)

       When Dobroslav Paraga rallied his fellow Croatians for 
     change in 1991, he could get only a few hundred supporters to 
     publicly protest Croatian President Franjo Tudjman's regime.
       Seven years later, close to 15,000 of Paraga's countrymen 
     routinely crowd the city squares in discontent over the civil 
     rights violations and declining economic fortunes that have 
     befallen Croatia under Tudjman's watch. One-fourth of all 
     Croatians are currently unemployed.
       ``Before, people were afraid to speak out against the 
     government,'' Paraga told our associate Kathryn Wallace. 
     ``Now they are hungry.''
       Conditions were supposed to improve when the communist 
     government toppled in 1990 and democracy prevailed.
       But Paraga tells us the new government is still communist, 
     albeit disguised as a social democracy.
       A 1997 State Department report agrees with this assessment, 
     referring to the government as ``authoritarian'' and 
     Tudjman's recent re-election as ``fundamentally flawed.''
       ``The president serves as head of state and commander of 
     the armed forces, chairs the influential National Defense and 
     Security Council, appoints the prime minister who leads the 
     government, and approves senior appointments in local 
     government,'' the report states.
       ``Government influence circumscribes and weakens the 
     judiciary. This, combined with the extensive constitutional 
     powers of the presidency, the overwhelming dominance of the 
     (Croatian Democratic Union, Tudjman's party), its absolute 
     control of television, and the continuing concentration of 
     power within the one-party central government, makes 
     Croatia's nominally democratic system in reality 
     authoritarian.''
       It also grants the government the ability to violate human 
     rights as it sees fit.
       The tall, rumpled Paraga doesn't look the part of a patriot 
     or a politician. Yet in the last decade he's been arrested 
     and jailed in his own country as well as in Austria and 
     Canada for what the Croatian government calls ``high 
     treason'' and ``terrorist acts.''
       Paraga's offense? He was the president on the Croatian 
     Party of Rights 1861, espousing such radical views as freedom 
     of the press and an equitable separation of powers between 
     the judicial, legislative and executive branches of 
     government. A 1993 visit to Washington to raise awareness of 
     human rights violations in his homeland led to his removal 
     from the legislature. The government's reason: 
     ``Dissemination of false information'' to incite rebellion.
       ``Our neighbors have freedom, but we stay at the same 
     place,'' Paraga told us. ``I have lost 28 friends in car 
     bombs and assassinations, (and) I have been imprisoned. I 
     have lost fear.''
       While Paraga has been outspoken of the offenses of his 
     government--assigning responsibility for the assassinations 
     of 28 officials of his party to Tudjman's group--he disavows 
     any violent or terrorist activities.
       He is in the United States now at the invitation of 
     recently retired Rep. Ronald V. Dellums, D-Calif., the 
     ranking member of the House National Security Committee, to 
     help draft a human rights resolution--which, if passed, would 
     be the first official policy statement by the United States 
     about the government of Croatia.
       It's not the first time that Paraga has sought 
     congressional help in his freedom fight. He first came to our 
     attention nearly a decade ago, in 1989, when Croatia was 
     still part of communist Yugoslavia. Then a 28-year-old 
     dissident, he had already been in five prisons for a total of 
     four years, the first time being when he was only 19.
       In 1980 he and his friend Ernest Brajder were thrown in 
     jail for circulating a petition opposing torture in 
     Yugoslavia. Paraga came out alive, but Brajder did not. After 
     three days in jail, he was dead in what the U.S. State 
     Department admitted were ``mysterious circumstances.''
       Back in 1989, Paraga made the rounds on Capitol Hill, as he 
     has this month, explaining the plight of those who dared 
     stand up to the Croatian authorities. The Senate believed 
     Paraga and passed a resolution with plenty of ``whereas'' and 
     ``therefore'' language. It had no binding effect on anyone, 
     but it nevertheless made headlines in Yugoslavia.
       One again, Paraga is hoping that a congressional resolution 
     will help prod the Croatian government into loosening its 
     iron-fisted grip on power and information. He told us that 
     his party, disbanded by the government, nonetheless has the 
     support of as much as 80 percent of young people in Croatia.
       After nearly a decade of war and political turmoil, it's 
     high time that Croatia gets back on the road toward free 
     markets and respect for human rights. If a congressional 
     resolution can help bring this about, we urge Congress to act 
     without delay.

     

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