(ANSA) - ZAGREB, SEPTEMBER 12 - Through a formal protest delivered today to the Italian ambassador in Zagreb, Croatia has "strongly condemned" the inauguration of the statue of Gabriele D'Annunzio in Trieste this morning, "on the day - the statement reads - that marks the centenary of the occupation" of Rijeka. The statement was sent to ANSA by the Croatian Foreign Ministry.

"Although this decision was made by the local authorities, this act - the statement reads - as well as the commemorations of the occupation of Rijeka in other Italian cities, contribute to trouble the relations of friendship and good neighborliness among the two countries." Furthermore, according to the Croatian Foreign Ministry, the commemorations of the 'Fiume enterprise' that began on September 12, 1919, and the statue of the poet in Trieste "are also a tribute to an ideology and behavior which is deep contrast with European values." The statue of D'Annunzio was unveiled this morning in Trieste in the Piazza della Borsa, upon a decision made by the center-right city council led by Roberto Dipiazza. In Croatia, the prevailing version is that the 'Rijeka enterprise' was an illegal occupation of the city, the prelude and "a rehearsal for the advent of fascism" which was strongly anti-Slavonic. An exhibition entitled "D'Annunzio's Holocaust" opens in Rijeka tonight, featuring the history of the sixteen months of occupation of the D'Annunzio "legionaries" of the Adriatic city. (ANSA).