Overview
- Croatian police said more than 450,000 tickets were sold for the show at the Hippodrome, making it the largest paid concert in the country’s history.
- Organizers banned hate-fueling insignia but some attendees performed Ustaše salutes and displayed nationalist symbols linked to Croatia’s World War II pro-Nazi regime.
- Authorities deployed over 6,500 officers, snipers, helicopters, a special control center and a field hospital to manage potential unrest.
- Thompson has faced bans in the Netherlands, Switzerland and Bosnia over his songs’ nationalist overtones but defends his music as celebrating faith and homeland.
- Croatian and Serbian political leaders condemned the concert’s extremist displays, reigniting debate over historical memory and enforcement of anti-hate laws.