Slovenian WWII veterans angry over celebration ban

Former communist partisans in Slovenia who fought against the Nazis in World War II were up in arms on Saturday after the government banned them from participating in independence celebrations. "This is an abuse of the statehood day ceremony and denying history," Janez Stanovnik, the head of the main veterans' association, told Saturday's daily Delo. He added "the (communist) red star is a symbol of partisans and of the National Liberation Front. What if Christians were prohibited from wearing crosses?" World War II veterans associations -- with flags and uniforms that include communist insignia and symbols - have always taken part in ceremonies marking Slovenia's declaration of independence from Yugoslavia on June 25, 1991. But the government decided that this year would be different, seeing such symbols as a painful reminder of when the two-million-strong country's was a part of the communist Yugoslavia. "Many Slovenians were killed by bullets fired by soldiers wearing these symbols," said Milan Zver from the ruling centre-right Slovenian Democratic party (SDS) of Prime Minister Janez Jansa. "The participants at the ceremony were selected based on the character of the holiday celebrated on June 25, when Slovenia proclaimed independence in 1991," the government's information office said in a statement on Friday. Slovenian communist partisans were among the first to take up arms after the country was occupied in 1941 by the Germans and Italians, who responded with numerous atrocities including the razing of entire villages. After the war, Slovenia became part of Yugoslavia with many fighters forming the country's communist government, not least former partisan Josip Broz, alias Tito, who ruled with a firm hand for 40 years until his death in 1980.