Severina and Igor Štimac trade fierce attacks over Gospić protest

A dispute between singer Severina Vučković and former Croatia football international Igor Štimac has turned a protest over waste dumping in Lika into a wider political and personal confrontation.

The argument followed Severina’s call for people to join the Sept. 5 “Walk for Lika, Walk for Croatia” protest in Zagreb. The event aims to pressure state institutions over tens of thousands of tonnes of illegally dumped waste in Lika. Critics associate the protest with opposition political activity, while organizers say their focus is waste disposal and its potential impact on local residents.

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WALK FOR LIKA, WALK FOR CROATIA is an ANTI-CROATIAN protest! The list of organizers and participants makes that clear! Look at the organizers! All the associations against Croatia, all the parasitic and LGBT associations, and all those for whom the five-pointed star is a sacred symbol, who consider all the rest of us Ustaše!

Štimac, who has spoken publicly in recent months about a possible entry into politics, opposed the protest in a social-media post. He wrote: “WALK FOR LIKA, WALK FOR CROATIA is an ANTI-CROATIAN protest! The list of organizers and participants makes that clear! Look at the organizers! All the associations against Croatia, all the parasitic and LGBT associations, and all those for whom the five-pointed star is a sacred symbol, who consider all the rest of us Ustaše!”

Severina had previously referred to Štimac and his family while urging athletes and public figures of all political views to attend. She contrasted their fathers’ backgrounds, writing: “Štimac’s father was in the Party. Mine was not. His father was a director at HEP, mine was a worker at HEP.” Štimac then published a lengthy response defending his father, Vlado Štimac, and included excerpts from his book “And God Created the Family.”

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Štimac’s father was in the Party. Mine was not. His father was a director at HEP, mine was a worker at HEP.