|
Croats take to streets to celebrate
Party bigger than any since country's independence
Posted: Sunday July 05, 1998 12:36 PM
| |
Croatians took to the streets after watching their team move into the semifinals (AP) |
ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) --
The last time Croatia partied like this, it was to celebrate independence.
This time, it was to cheer the biggest sports event in the young nation's
history. The party lasted until dawn Sunday as tens of thousands of
people poured into the streets of the capital to joyously mark their team's
3-0 victory over mighty Germany and a
spot in the World Cup semifinals. They cheered long and loud over
Saturday's game, singing, dancing and dousing one another with champagne.
By early Sunday, banners fluttered from apartment houses in Zagreb reading,
"We are the champions." Croatia has not seen such a massive
celebration since 1991, when it broke away from Yugoslavia.
"We are a small nation; many in the world did not even know that we
existed," said Ante Zupan, a 33-year-old electrician. "Now they'll know."
President Franjo Tudjman, who attended the match in Lyon, France, said the
victory "boosts our confidence but it also raises our reputation in the
world. ... It's great to be the winner." Giving Germany its
most-lopsided loss in the World Cup since 1954 was not only a huge upset,
but sweet revenge. Germany beat Croatia 2-0 in the 1996 European
Championship. And while Germany has traditionally backed Croatia, as
the first country to recognize its independence in 1991, a move which some
argue sparked bloody war that spread to Bosnia and ripped apart the former
Yugoslavia, Croats gloated for one night. "Danke Deutschland [Thank
you, Germany]," giggled Damir Skaro, a former boxer and a parliament
deputy, playing with the popular motto and a refrain of a song made at the
time when Germany recognized Croatia. It was hard to find anyone in
the country of 4.5 million who did not watch the match on TV. Bars carried
the game live on big screens and no one went to sleep. Shops were closed
earlier because they expected no customers. In Zagreb, 40 people
were admitted to hospitals with slight injuries. Several shops and tram
windows were smashed. A 24-year-old man died during the celebrations
in Vukovar in eastern Croatia when he slipped off the truck that was
carrying him through the town. In the divided city of Mostar in
neighboring Bosnia, a 25-year-old Muslim woman was killed and a man
seriously wounded on the Muslim side, when hit by bullets fired in
celebrations from the Croat side, Bosnian radio reported.
| 
