Tens of thousands of people protested in Croatia yesterday, a day after a UN court handed down heavy war crimes sentences for two ex-generals, seen by many Croats as heroes.

On the central square in a rainy Zagreb an estimated 30,000 protesters gathered at the call of war veterans to listen to fiery speeches condemning both the verdicts and the Croatian government.

“We do not recognise The Hague court and its ruling, those who bear guilt for such verdicts are here”, veterans’ leader Mario Slavicek told the crowd.

The war veterans and their supporters who gathered to show their outrage at Friday’s verdict blame present and previous governments for handing over the generals to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

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