L.A. Marchers Call for U.S. Recognition
About 1,000 demonstrators in West Los Angeles called on the Bush Administration on Saturday to recognize the republics of Croatia and Slovenia as independent from Yugoslavia.
Croatian- and Slovenian-Americans waved signs reading, “Recognize Slovenia,” “America Please Help” and “God Bless Croatia” in front of the Federal Building. Scores of large blue, white and red Croatian flags with the distinctive checkered shield fluttered in the light breeze.
Maric Levic, 60, who has spent half her life in Croatia and half in the United States, said America should stop supporting a unified Yugoslavia.
“We are asking the American public for moral support and the State Department to change its mind,” she said. “We have nothing against the Serbians. We just don’t want to be dominated by them.”
Slovenian-American Mark Ryavec, 40, of Marina del Rey, said: “I’m really angry. The fighting has put my family at risk.”
“We are trying to be democratic and we need the Western nations behind us,” said event organizer Anita Bobich, 33, of the Los Angeles-based Croatian-American Club. “Without them, if we succeed, we will be ostracized and if we don’t we will be oppressed.”
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