Man to have surgery after toppling statue of leader of resistance to pro-Nazi regime during second world war

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A 65-year-old man who repeatedly shoved a Croatian anti-fascist monument in an effort to topple it paid an immediate penalty for his act of vandalism when the statue fell on his leg and broke it, according to police and local media.

In an incident condemned by authorities in the coastal town of Split as “savage vandalism”, police said the man dislodged a bust of Rade Končar, a celebrated leader of the resistance to Croatia’s pro-Nazi Ustasha regime during the second world war.

But the statue toppled and broke his leg, according to the regional paper Slobodna Dalmacija, in what some Croatian Twitter users said was the statue’s revenge.

“Rade Končar breaks the legs of fascists 76 years after they shot him,” centrist politician Krešo Beljak wrote on Twitter.

Krešo Beljak (@KBeljak) Milost ne tražim niti bih vam je dao!Rade Končar lomi noge fašistima i 76 godina nakon što su ga strijeljali! 💪💪💪https://t.co/cdhBScboVW

The hospital in Split said the man would undergo surgery after the incident on Wednesday.

Končar was celebrated as a Yugoslav hero for his fight against Croatia’s fascist government. In 1942 he was captured by Italian forces and executed at the age of 31 with several of his communist comrades.

When asked by a judge if he would seek clemency, he allegedly replied: “I will not ask for mercy nor would I have it for you!”

Several thousand anti-fascist monuments have been vandalised or destroyed since Croatia’s independence in 1991.

Critics accuse Croatian authorities of turning a blind eye to the surge of nostalgia for the Ustasha – the former pro-Nazi regime that persecuted and killed hundreds of thousands of people, notably Serbs, anti-fascist Croats, Jews and Roma opponents.