ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) – Croatia’s president and government joined activists Monday in expressing outrage at the burning during a carnival of an effigy showing a same-sex couple with their child.
The incident occurred Sunday in the southern town of Imotski. A large effigy showing two men embracing each other was torched in front of cheering festival goers to the sound of the funeral music.
President Zoran Milanovic condemned the incident as an “inhumane, totally unacceptable act.” He demanded that the organizers apologize, while an LGBT group announced legal action.
“The event was observed by many children who could witness the spreading of hatred and inciting to violence,” Milanovic said in a statement.
Croatia’s government also said it is opposed to “any form of hate speech of aggression … and any act that insults the feelings of the Croatian people and contributes to the divisions within society,” the official Hina news agency reported.
Burning of effigies is a satirical tradition at Croatia’s carnivals, often representing public figures or politicians. Past incidents included the burning of a children’s book about same-sex families in 2018 and last year’s torching of an effigy of a Croatian Serb politician.
Sunday’s move follows a recent ruling by Croatia’s top court against discrimination of same-sex couples when it comes to acting as foster parents.
The Constitutional Court ruling in January was hailed as a major step forward in boosting gay rights in Croatia. But it also angered many in the predominantly conservative Catholic nation.
Croatia, which currently holds the six-month, rotating presidency of the European Union, has allowed same-sex partnerships since 2014, but gay couples are not allowed to adopt children. Milanovic, a liberal, was Croatia’s prime minister at the time. He beat a conservative former president in a runoff vote last month to become Croatia’s new head of state.