Kundid and Milina: The parade will be magnificent, come by public transport

Tonight, a general rehearsal of the military parade scheduled for Thursday is being held in Zagreb. The Chief of the General Staff of the Croatian Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Tihomir Kundid, and the Chief of Police, Nikola Milina, announced traffic measures and security preparations. They called on citizens to cooperate and come.

The northern track of Vukovarska Street is open to citizens

“Today, the rehearsal is being held from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. After the rehearsal, traffic will return to normal. There will be no traffic restrictions on Wednesday, but on the day of the parade, on Thursday, special traffic regulations will come into force again,” said the Chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant General Tihomir Kundid.

The rehearsal will have a smaller number of participants, 1,500 infantry members will participate tonight, while more than 3,600 will participate in the parade itself. 231 vehicles will also participate in the rehearsal; while there will be 505 on Thursday.

“The rehearsal is important for us to see the passing times and critical points,” said Kundid, adding that the rehearsal for the flying program was postponed to Wednesday due to bad weather conditions.

The parade will take place on the southern track of Vukovarska Street, from the intersection with Držićeva to the intersection with Savska. The northern track of Vukovarska will remain open to citizens, and the public will be able to follow it along the entire route.

“We invite citizens to come by public transport because it will be the fastest and easiest way for them to access the location. Water points will be set up along the route, and eight medical teams have been provided,” he added.

Kundid emphasized that the parade will be magnificent and has historical significance because it is held every ten years. The weapons and equipment of the Armed Forces, their strength and readiness will be displayed, and the safety of citizens and participants is our absolute priority,” he said. When asked who the parade commander will be, that is, who leads the parade after his report, Kundid replied that there have been changes compared to 10 years ago, he is the commander and leader of the parade and has taken complete responsibility for the preparation.

This time without cavalry units

Regarding the participation of cavalry units, Kundid said that they did not show up at Pleso yesterday, when the final structure of the parade was to be determined.

“The participation of 40 to 50 horses was planned. I do not know where the horses are, they are not in Zagreb, plus there is a problem with accommodation, food and veterinary care. I simply cannot take the security risk of including them in the parade, and I do not know whether they are trained and how the horses will behave,” Kundid stressed.

When asked about the fact that even 10 years ago cavalry units did not participate in the training, but everything went well, Kundid reiterated that he cannot accept that risk, he must make sure before the parade that everything will be as it should be. He added that 31 historical units will be represented in the parade.

When asked why the Leopard tanks were not on the list and whether they had even arrived in Croatia, the Chief of the General Staff replied that the Leopards were in Croatia, but they were deliberately left off the list because they wanted to keep some things as a surprise.

“As for the Rafale, at the moment we are planning six of them, and maybe more. Let it be an enigma at the moment,” he said.

Milina: We are proud of the police presence

Police Chief Nikola Milina stressed that all branches of the police are participating in the parade - from the Lučko anti-terrorist unit, special and intervention police, to the basic, border and cadet units, along with civil protection and the Ministry of the Interior.

“The parade has a special meaning for us because this year marks the 35th anniversary of the formation of the first Croatian police officers. At the beginning of the Homeland War, the Croatian police were the only armed force, and later on equal footing with the army,” Milina emphasized.

The police will also participate with a motorized echelon of 87 vehicles, including tactical and transport vehicles, motorcycles, vessels and drones.

Source: HRT