12 February 2008 | Croatia’s capital Zagreb witnessed large-scale protests this weekend over the name of one of its central squares, currently called after Marshal Tito.

Around 2,000 protesters gathered at the square on Saturday, international media reported. They called Tito a criminal and demanded that the square be renamed to Theatre Square, as it was called before the Second World War.

At the same time, a crowd of roughly 200 people gathered on the opposite side of the square for a counter-rally in defence of Tito, who organised the anti-fascist resistance during the Second World War.

Josip Broz “Tito”, who was born in Croatia, ruled the Yugoslav federation – including Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1944 to his death in 1980.

While some remember him nostalgically, as Yugoslavia enjoyed stability, a kind of prosperity and independence from the Soviet Union, others see him as a dictator who forbade pluralism and was responsible for prosecution, torture and mass killings.

“The problem is not with Tito. The problem is with some circles that are nostalgic for the times of the pro-Nazi Croatian regime,” President Stjepan Mesić, who is critical of the initiative to change the square’s name, said in a radio statement.