“No Croat in Hrtkovci is endangered,” Šešelj said at a press conference held in front of a police cordon, adding that only 10 percent of the village’s population is Croatian.
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After his rally in Hrtkovci was banned, Šešelj said he has the right to provoke the regime, just as the opposition does everywhere in the world, and that today’s gathering in Jarak is precisely such a provocation.
Several dozen police officers blocked the road in Jarak leading to Hrtkovci, which is seven kilometers away, where the radicals announced a gathering. In that village near Ruma, which has recently been in the public spotlight, albeit not by its own will, lives 3,300 people. The majority are Serbs – 60 percent, 30 percent are Hungarians, and ten percent are Croats.
Numerous journalistic teams, including reporters from Croatian media, arrived in Jarak, and several hundred members and supporters of the SRS gathered, carrying the party’s flags.
The blockade of access to Hrtkovci began yesterday and will last until midnight on Sunday in response to the gatherings announced by Šešelj and the radicals, as well as the opposition parties, the League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina and the Democratic Party. They announced that they want to counter the intimidation and provocation policies carried out by Šešelj and the radicals with a counter-rally.
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At today’s press conference, he claimed that there were no killings or persecutions in Hrtkovci, but rather that a list of those who had already left was read, and that it was not he who read it but a member of the SRS.
However, he stated that “Hrtkovci is a response to the expulsion of Serbs from Croatia.” He also said that he was not convicted of war crimes but for inciting persecution. When asked when Serbia and Croatia would have good relations, Šešelj replied that “there will be no good relations with Croatia until the Serbian Krajina is liberated.”
He emphasized that Croatia will not be allowed to attempt to seize 10,000 hectares of land in northern Bačka.
After the press conference, Šešelj and his supporters dispersed, left Jarak, and returned to Belgrade.
At one point, an incident occurred in Jarak when six members of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) unfurled a banner reading “Šešelj is a war criminal,” after which they were attacked by radicals. The police prevented a more serious incident.
