Graduates in Zagreb Chant Ustasha Slogan During Celebration A graduation day meant to celebrate Zagreb’s future suddenly turned into a grim echo of its past, as teenagers marched through the capital chanting Ustasha slogans and blasting nationalist anthems.

On the morning of May 22, 2026, high school graduates poured into Ban Jelačić Square for an officially organized all-day send-off, backed by police, emergency services, and city security. Croatian media quickly flagged one video as the “clip of the day” from the square, showing newly adult students chanting “Ajmo, ajmo, ustaše” (“Let’s go, let’s go, Ustashas”), a scene a regional outlet headlined as a “Scandal! Terrible scenes and sounds from Zagreb, this is what Croatian GRADUATES are singing in 2026!”

As the day unfolded, the atmosphere darkened further. What had been presented as a festive citywide celebration “turned into a scandalous Ustasha feast,” with teenagers “marching through the streets of the Croatian capital singing Thompson’s songs and chanting the Ustasha greeting ‘Za dom spremni’,” according to coverage citing Croatian media reports from the scene.

Online reaction inside Croatia was blistering. Commenters denounced the chants as “barbaric behavior” and questioned how such slogans could surface at a state-managed youth event, especially under the noses of police and city authorities, who were advertised as accompanying the graduation parade throughout the day.

Pro-government–aligned reporting leaned into the shock and reputational damage rather than open political blame, amplifying the scandal framing and stressing that the teenagers are “newly-adults” whose actions stain Croatia’s image at a time when the country is keen to project European respectability. Yet critics in reader comments hinted at deeper responsibility, drawing a line from parents and political climate to the chants echoing through downtown Zagreb.

Beneath the noise of Thompson’s songs and the Ustasha salute, a familiar regional question resurfaced: are these just wayward kids on a drunken rite of passage, or the latest symptom of a society that still hasn’t settled its account with the past?