Controversial Right-Wing Singer Marko Perkovic Draws Tens of Thousands to Zagreb Concert
Some 450,000 were expected to be in attendance at the Hippodrome later in the evening – the biggest concert in Croatia's history, according to the police, viewed as a major security challenge. Perkovic, also known as Thompson, has been banned from performing in some European cities over frequent pro-Nazi displays at his gigs, but he remains hugely popular in Croatia, frequently attending rallies and sports events. Organizers said any display of any hate-fueling insignia is strictly banned at Saturday's concert. Some fans were seen wrapped in Croatian flags, while others wore black Thompson-inscribed T-shirts. 'See you at Hippodrome,' Perkovic wrote on Facebook. 'Take care of each other.'
In Zagreb, a city of nearly 700,000 people, the event has virtually blocked traffic, which has been suspended in various areas days before the event. Authorities deployed thousands of police officers and set up a special control center and a field hospital. The state-owned HRT television said snipers were guarding the venue and helicopters were flying above as visitors streamed in. Some fans told The Associated Press they expected good fun and were happy to be at such an event gathering so many Croats in one place. 'Thompson is a patriot. He does not insult anyone; he loves everybody,' said Ivica from eastern Croatia, who gave only his first name. But not everyone was pleased. Former Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor wrote an angry post on X, criticizing how the state and the city have been put in service of one man. 'Thrill and excitement as fans at downtown Zagreb already sing songs from the era of the criminal state,' Kosor wrote on X. 'No media are reporting about that.'
Croatia's World War II Ustasha regime ran concentration camps where tens of thousands of ethnic Serbs, Jews, Roma, and anti-fascist Croats were brutally executed. Some of Perkovic's songs include the Ustasha salute, punishable by law in Croatia, and other references to the pro-Nazi regime. Some Croatian nationalists view the leaders of the Ustasha regime as the country's founders, despite the recorded atrocities.
Perkovic first became popular during a bloody 1991–95 ethnic war that erupted after Croatia declared independence from former Yugoslavia, in which he fought. Nicknamed Thompson after an antique machine gun he carried in the war, Perkovic has claimed that his songs only celebrate Croatia's victory in that war and its independence. Index news portal posted video footage Saturday of some fans performing the Ustasha salute in Zagreb before the concert.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Arabiya
18 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Ukraine allies looking for solutions in EU on Patriots, German minister says
Ukraine's allies are looking to see whether some member states in the European Union could supply Ukraine with five Patriot missile defense systems, of which Germany is willing to finance two, Germany's Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on Tuesday. Pistorius said Germany would have been willing to give two of its own systems to Ukraine but needed reassurance that it could replace them within six to eight months. 'We are now looking for solutions that will allow us to identify Patriot systems in member states in Europe,' he said. 'So, it's not hopeless, but the prerequisite is that countries that have them are prepared to hand them over now so that others can pay for them and they can go to Ukraine,' he added.
Al Arabiya
a day ago
- Al Arabiya
Can you ever expect privacy in public? Coldplay kiss camera saga tells us a lot about the answer
When the KissCam at a Coldplay concert landed on a couple who tried (but failed) to duck out of the spotlight, the internet immediately got to work. In hours, the clip was just about everywhere. Endless memes, parody videos, and photos of the pair's shocked faces filled social media feeds. Online sleuths rushed to identify who was on camera. Artificial intelligence and software company Astronomer eventually confirmed that its CEO and chief people officer were in fact the couple in the video – and announced the CEO's resignation over the weekend. The incident's fallout has of course generated conversations about business ethics, corporate accountability, and the repercussions that conflicts of interest among leadership can cause. But there are also broader implications at play in our increasingly online world – about the state of potentially being visible everywhere you go or tracked through social media surveillance. Experts say it's more and more common for moments that may have been intended to be private, or at least reserved to a single physical venue, to make their way online and even go global today. So, in the era of lightning-fast social sharing, and when cameras are practically inescapable, does being in public hold any expectation of privacy anymore? Is every experience simply fodder for the world to see? Cameras are everywhere. It's no secret that cameras are filming much of our lives these days. From CCTV security systems to Ring doorbells, businesses, schools, and neighborhoods use ample video surveillance around the clock. Sporting and concert venues have also filmed fans for years, often projecting playful bits of audience participation to the rest of the crowd. In short, the on-scene viewer becomes part of the product – and the center of attention. And of course, consumers can record just about anything if they have a smartphone in their pocket – and if it's enticing to other social media users, that footage can quickly spread through cyberspace. Ellis Cashmore, author of the book Celebrity Culture, proposes that the rapid fame of last week's KissCam moment probably answers a question many have been asking for years: 'Is the private life still what it was?' And the answer is, 'of course there's no such thing as the private life anymore,' he notes. 'Certainly not in the traditional sense of the term. I'm not sure that we can assume privacy at a concert with hundreds of other people,' adds Mary Angela Bock, an associate professor in the University of Texas at Austin's School of Journalism and Media. 'We can't assume privacy on the street anymore.' Some version of the KissCam has long been a staple at big events – from timeouts during sports games to romantic songs played by artists at their concerts. It's easy to miss, but most venues have signs to inform the audience that they could be filmed during the event. What's been different in more recent years, experts note, is how quickly those moments can travel beyond the physical space where they actually unfold. That isn't only limited to what shows up on a jumbotron. Sometimes it only takes one person in the crowd to capture any interaction on their phone and post the video online – where it can zip around the world. 'It's not just the camera,' Bock says. 'It's the distribution system that is wild and new.' Once something's viral, doxing often follows. Then there's the second ring of exposure – what happens after the video or photos spread. Experts point to growing instances of social media users rushing to publicly identify or dox the people captured on camera – much like how quickly the internet committed to finding those involved in the Coldplay moment, for example. The LinkedIn pages belonging both to Astronomer's now-former CEO and chief people officer remained disabled on Monday, and The Associated Press could not reach either for comment. But it isn't limited to company executives. Beyond someone simply spotting a familiar face and spreading the word, technological advances – including AI – have made it easier and faster overall to find just about anyone in an online post. This can happen with videos and photos shared on social media each day, even if it doesn't go viral, experts warn. 'It's a little bit unsettling how easily we can be identified with biometrics, how our faces are online, how social media can track us – and how the internet has gone from being a place of interaction to a gigantic surveillance system,' Bock says. 'When you think about it, we are being surveilled by our social media. They're tracking us in exchange for entertaining us.' And of course, such moments can also impact people who were not actually on camera. As easy as it can be to be identified online today, the internet is notorious for cutting a broad swath or not always getting it right. That sometimes produces harassment of individuals not actually involved. At last week's Coldplay concert, for example, many social media users speculated that a third person seen near the two caught on camera was another Astronomer employee – leading to swarms of posts targeting her. But the company later confirmed that she was not at the event and said no other employees were in the video circulating online. 'For the now-viral moment, we can talk about what's right and wrong and whether they deserved it,' says Alison Taylor, a clinical associate professor at New York University's Stern School of Business. 'Still, it's a very frightening thing to get a lot of abuse and harassment online,' Taylor notes. 'There are real human beings behind this.' It's hard to think that that these kind of viral moments will ever go away – and there are few legal restrictions to stop users from sharing clips of interactions recorded from anything from a concert to the street widely online. But on an individual level, Bock says it can be helpful to think before you share and question whether something's really accurate. 'Social media has changed so much,' Bock says. 'But we really have not as a society caught up with the technology in terms of our ethics and our etiquette.'
Al Arabiya
2 days ago
- Al Arabiya
Music review: Elton john's 'live from the rainbow theatre with ray cooper' spotlights a rich catalog
On Elton John's new concert album, the songs steal the show. Deep cuts from John's rich catalog are given the spotlight on Live From the Rainbow Theatre With Ray Cooper. The 13-song set was culled from a six-show residency in London in May 1977, with John at the piano and his longtime percussionist Cooper joining him for the second half of the show. The album initially received a limited release on vinyl for Record Store Day and will be available digitally and on CD for the first time beginning Friday. While John, of course, performed his biggest hits during the residency, the album wisely focuses on often overlooked material, pointing to the astounding quantity of quality songs John produced early in his career. That includes Cage the Songbird, a lilting tribute to Édith Piaf from the underrated 1976 LP Blue Moves. Another highlight from that album is the cabaret jazz ballad Idol, which shows John could have thrived in a lounge had the rock star thing not worked out. The piano man's playing here is closer to Liberace than Little Richard because ballads predominate, and Cooper's role is tastefully restrained. Even when the tempo gets brisk on Better Off Dead, the song is delightfully hammy operetta rather than rock 'n' roll. From start to finish, John sings with relish: He knows how good these songs are. Where To Now St. Peter? features an especially vigorous vocal, including full-throated falsetto. Live From the Rainbow Theatre underscores John's lyricist Bernie Taupin's vital role in their songwriting partnership. The album opens with The Greatest Discovery, a pairing of sweet sentiment and a charming melody, while Ticking is a gripping tale set in Queens that anticipated America's epidemic of gun violence. John introduces Ticking and two other songs by noting he doesn't perform them often or often enough. Banter elsewhere is mostly brief and stiff, but his droll wit does surface in one exchange with a spectator. 'How are you tonight? Nice handkerchief,' John says before telling the rest of the audience, 'He hasn't washed that in three years.' The 1977 performances took place as punk and disco were knocking John off his pop pedestal and ending his years-long reign as a consistent hitmaker. Live From the Rainbow Theatre offers a reminder that not all of his superb songs were singles.
