Serbians plan protest at concert

CLEVELAND (AP) — The scheduled performance of a Croatian rock musician who plays nationalist songs and has drawn Nazi salutes from audience members has brought criticism from the city’s Serbian residents, who believe his songs glorify Serbian ethnic cleansing.

Marko Perkovic, who performs under the name “Thompson,” is scheduled to sing Nov. 9 at the Slovenian National Home in Cleveland.

The Serbian Unity Congress has condemned Perkovic’s North American tour, and Cleveland resident Milosh Milenkovich — a past president of the Congress — has vowed to organize a protest of his Cleveland performance.

Perkovic’s song recalling the Jasenovac death camp, where a million Serbs were sent to their death during World War II, is an ode to genocide, Milenkovich said.

A member of the Croatian Youth Club of Cleveland, which booked the performance, said Perkovic’s music inspired and united Croatian communities around the world during the civil war that tore apart the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

“Perkovic does not glorify the Holocaust — nor does he condone the unspeakable acts thrown upon the victims of World War II,” club member Ante Slavic wrote in e-mail to The Plain Dealer.

Gerry Hopkins, business manager for the Slovenian National Home, said she booked the event without knowing the band’s name or music.