Eastern Front Reopens

The most important news in Croatian media today had little to with presidential campaign, at least directly. It was the most unpleasant incident which reopened old wounds and reminded Croatians of some apparently unresolved issues of recent and troubled past.

Last evening in Vukovar, ethnically mixed city on Croatian eastern border, a site of great destruction and many atrocities during 1991-95 war, group of three ethnic Serb youths came to the building used by HSP, Croatian far right nationalist party. They began provoking HSP members, than got into fistfight and finally threw a hand grenade. Thankfully, nobody was seriously injured and the police quickly apprehended the perpetrators.

The incident will have some impact on the elections, though. Many Croatian hardliners see Sanader as too "soft" towards ethnic Serb minority and it is likely that some would punish him by voting for a variety of fringe right-wing candidates in the upcoming contest.