The bust of the partisan national hero Ivo Lola Ribar was stolen on Sunday from the pedestal of the monument in the park at Prilaz baruna Filipovića in Zagreb, confirmed the Zagreb Police Administration.
The police state that the bust was stolen early on Sunday, and citizens reported its disappearance at 14:45.
The collected information about the bust will be published by the police on Monday.
The bust of Ivo Lola Ribar in the park at Prilaz baruna Filipovića was reinstalled in October 2017 by Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić after it was removed from its pedestal in the early 90s.
Shortly thereafter, an initiative was launched by the Club of Representatives Independents for Croatia to remove the bust, along with Bandić’s amendment, which agreed to reconsider the procedure for installing the bust that he himself had ceremonially unveiled.
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In early December, it was decided that Ivo Lola Ribar would remain in the park as the representatives of the Zagreb City Assembly did not accept the initiative of the Independents for Croatia party.
On two occasions, the bust was vandalized with spray paint, but it was quickly cleaned.
Ivo Lola Ribar was born in Zagreb in 1916 and died in Glamočko polje in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1943. During his studies, he joined the communist youth and in 1937 led the youth commission of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (CK KPJ), and from 1937 he was also the secretary of the Central Committee of the Union of Communist Youth of Yugoslavia (CK SKOJ) and remained in that position until his death. As a member of the CK KPJ and the Supreme Command, he participated in organizing the partisan movement. He was one of the closest associates of Josip Broz.
