27 Detained in Croatian Ethnic Protests

Ethnic protesters clashed with police reinforcements Saturday after seizing police weapons in two Croatian towns, and at least 27 people were detained, authorities said. One policeman was injured.

Croatia’s Interior Ministry dispatched special police units to the trouble spots south of the Croatian capital of Zagreb and accused unnamed Serbian politicians of encouraging what it called “terrorist acts.”

Serbs and Croats, Yugoslavia’s two largest ethnic groups, have been fierce rivals since the country was formed in 1918.

With increasing ethnic, economic and political differences tugging at Yugoslavia’s fragile, six-republic federation, the Serb-Croat rivalry is becoming more intense and violent.

The center-right coalition that ousted the Communists in free elections in Croatia last spring is pushing for a much looser confederation of sovereign states in Yugoslavia.