Thousands of Slovenes had a mass gathering on Sunday near the border between Slovenia and Italy to mark the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Second World War.

Participating in the ceremony in Sempeter pri Gorici, President Borut Pahor decorated the Ljubljana Partisan Choir with the Golden Order for Services, the highest state decoration, for preserving patriotic and resistance songs.

Addressing the participants, Janez Stanovnik, honorary president of the Slovenian WWII Veterans' Association, outlined the resistance against Fascism in the Primorsko region.

The Slovenian Association of WWII Veterans, established in 1948, currently has some 44,000 members.

In addition to the event in Sempeter pri Gorici, Sunday also witnessed a Festival of Peace held in memory of the partisan Pohorje Battalion in Slovenska Bistrica, about 110 km northeast of Ljubljana, as part of the celebrations of the end of WWII.

Dejan Zidan, acting defence minister, attended the event.

Slovenia is also due to observe Resistance Day on Monday, which marks the founding of the Liberation Front of the Slovenian Nation, a central resistance organisation of Slovenians to fight against fascism during WWII.

The armed anti-fascist organisation united some 20 groups when it declared its manifesto at the end of 1941.