Tens of thousands of war veterans and citizens who rallied under the slogan "For the Country" in Zagreb's main square, Trg Bana Jelacica, on Saturday expressed their outrage against the verdicts delivered by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in the case of Croatian Generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac.

The rally organiser, Zeljko Sacic, read out the protesters' demands, including the immediate resignation of the current government and cessation of Croatia's European Union accession negotiations.

One of the demands is that Serbian President Boris Tadic be proclaimed "persona non grata" in Croatia due to what demonstrators labelled as insulting and cynical statements he had made after the ICTY rendered the judgement on Friday.

Tadic said on Friday that the UN court had ruled in line with the law. A statement issued on the web site of the office of the Serbian president said Tadic believed the Hague tribunal's verdicts were in line with the law, and hoped that they would contribute to the process of reconciliation. Tadic said in the statement that he did not want to go into analyses of whether the verdicts were justified as it would constitute interference in the work of the Hague tribunal and judiciary and that as President he did not interfere in the work of judicial and UN institutions.

All speakers at the rally criticised the ICTY's ruling and the behaviour of the current and former governments of Croatia. Some protesters tore an EU flag, which was met with approval from other demonstrators.

The rally ended peacefully at 2.30 PM.

War veterans also rallied in the eastern city of Osijek, with speakers recalling war crimes that had been committed by Serb rebels in eastern Croatia, including those in Vukovar, Aljmas, Dalj and Erdut.