Early on Wednesday morning, at around 4.40 am, a monument to antifascist hero Rade Končar was damaged in a park at the Bačvice neighbourhood in Split, reports tportal.hr on November 7, 2018.

“A man knocked down the monument together with the pedestal,” reported the local police. They further confirmed that the monument fell on the vandal’s leg and injured him, so he ended up in a hospital for medical treatment, which has delayed the criminal investigation.

Rade Končar was shot by Italians in May 1942 for organising the antifascist resistance in Dalmatia.

The Split-Dalmatia County Police Administration knows the identity of the attacker but did not want to release it publicly. According to unofficial sources from the Split hospital, the perpetrator is a man in the mid-sixties. The monument fell on his leg and broke in, and he ended up in hospital.

President of the SDP branch in Split Goran Kotur said that the demolition of the monument was a shameful, cowardly and criminal act. “Unfortunately, this reflects an unhealthy climate that is persistently created in a part of our society. When the president says that the Ustasha slogan is an old Croatian greeting, and when there is no street dedicated to the partisans in Split, it is no wonder that pro-fascist vandals are taking things into their hands in such a miserable way. This is not the first anti-fascist monument to be demolished in Croatia. ‘Unknown perpetrators’ have destroyed some 3,000 monuments since 1990, with no fear that anyone will ever discover and punish them. Anti-fascism as a civilization value is not a thing of the past, but it is very much needed today, when fascism, which has done so much evil to Split, Croatia, Europe and the world, is strengthening again,” Kotur wrote.

The incident was also condemned by the office of Split Mayor Andre Krstulović Opara. “We strongly condemn the demolition of the monument to Rade Končar. We are sure this is an act done by an irresponsible individual and does not express the opinion of citizens of the free and tolerant Split who condemn such vandalism and savagery. We believe that the competent institutions will appropriately punish the perpetrator. The town of Split has hired a company which will, after the police investigation is over, repair the damage to the monument,” said the mayor’s office.

Translated from tportal.hr (reported by Damir Petranović).

To read more about Split, click here.