Independent Democratic Serb Party

ZAGREB - The president of Croatia's Serb National Council, Milorad Pupovac, who is also the leader of the Independent Democratic Serb Party, signed with Serbian Human Rights Minister Tomislav Zigmanov, who is also the leader of the Democratic Alliance of Croats in Vojvodina, a declaration on cooperation between Serbs in Croatia and Croats in Serbia.

Croatia's political leadership, wartime generals and war veterans gathered on Thursday in the town of Knin to mark the anniversary of the victorious military offensive, Operation Storm, that practically ended the independence war in the country in 1995.

Part of the ceremony took place at the Knin Fortress, while another part was held at the town's football stadium.

A series of warnings about the rise of intolerance against ethnic minorities, hate speech and historical revisionism in Croatian society have attracted very little or no public attention - except one, from Croatian Serb leader Milorad Pupovac, which has been causing controversy for over a month.

"These are individuals, perhaps organised, but they are not the fruit of some climate in society, they are deviations that need to be dealt with based on individual responsibility," Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Wednesday.

Plenkovic added that the government "won't be sucked into a spiral of hate".

The former manager of the Croatian national football team, Miroslav Ciro Blazevic, has surprised and shocked many in Croatia by appearing in a video made for the European elections by the Independent Democratic Serbian Party, SDSS, a party representing Croatia's Serbian minority.

Milorad Pupovac, the leader of the Independent Democratic Serb Party, SDSS, one of the parties representing Croatia's Serb minority, said on Friday that the defacement of some of the party's European Parliament election campaign billboards should not deter Croatian Serbs from turning out to vote.