VICTORIA (EJP)---A Jewish human rights group have condemned the granting of an Australian entry visa to Marko Perkovic Thompson, the lead singer of Croatian rock band Thompson, who has been accused of having pro-Nazi sympathies.

Perkovic, known for his patriotic songs, has repeatedly denied that he is a fascist or anti-Semite, but at a concert he gave earlier this year, many in the audience wore uniforms or symbols belonging to the fascist Ustashe regime that ran the pro-Nazi Independent State of Croatia (NDH) during World War II.

According to Manny waks, a spokesman for the B’Nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission (ADC), the Croatian entertainer had uttered anti-Semitic and racist comments.

"It does not augur well that the new Labor Government...permitted the entry into Australia of a person who is a beacon for racists and neo-Nazi youth,’’ he said.

"His concerts attract young neo-Nazis and their sympathisers and these people wear material and clothing that identifies with the Ustashi regime,” he added.

Perkovic’s concerts have been banned in several countries.

The ADC, which is the human rights arm of B’nai B’rith Australia/New Zealand, said that 2007 has seen "a significant rise in racist and anti-Semitic incidents."

"The ADC calls on the Minister to reconsider the grantin of the visa so as to ensure that race politics and hatred is not promoted in this fair and free country," the group said in a statement.

Perkovic will play in Australia on December 29. His band last toured the country in 2005.

He gained his popularity with patriotic songs during Croatia’s
1991-1995 war of independence from the former Yugoslavia.

The Ustasha killed hundreds of thousands of Serbs, Jews, anti-fascist
Croatians, Roma and others in Croatia’s concentration camps.