Tito’s Admirers Pay Tribute on Yugoslav Leader’s Death Anniversary

Across the territory that was once ruled as a unitary state by Josip Broz Tito, small groups of people who still maintain affection for the Yugoslav Communist ruler gathered on Tuesday to mark the 41st anniversary of his death.

In Kumrovec in Croatia, the village where Tito was born, a siren wailed at the exact time of his passing at 3.05pm, and a wreath-laying ceremony was attended by representatives of the local authorities as well as anti-fascist associations from Croatia and Slovenia.

In the Croatian town of Labin in the Istrian region, a small gathering was held in front of a bust of Tito.

"Time passes very quickly, but we have the feeling that the role of Tito and his importance is becoming more and more pronounced among the people who lived at that time," said Josip Hrvatin, president of the local Josip Broz Tito association in Labin.

In a park in Zenica in central Bosnia, a local association of anti-fascists celebrated what they described as "the historical role and work of Comrade Tito", while admirers of the late Yugoslav president also gathered around his statue in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo to mark the anniversary, and in the town of Tuzla.

In Belgrade, the anniversary of Tito's death was marked at the House of Flowers, where Tito was buried, part of the Museum of Yugoslavia.

Serbian media reported that one of Tito's grandchildren, Josip Joska Broz, visited and laid a wreath.

"He represents a man who raised this country from the ashes, a man who gave everything to his people," media reported Joska Broz as saying.

Tito led the Partisans resistance to the Axis powers during the Nazi occupation in World War II, and then ruled Yugoslavia from its formation in 1945 to his death in 1980.

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