SREBRENICA, Bosnia-Herzegovina - A crowd of furious Bosnian Muslims jumped over fences and attacked Serbia's prime minister with stones and water bottles on Saturday, marring the 20th anniversary commemorations of the Srebrenica massacre.

Aleksandar Vucic, a former ultranationalist during the Balkan wars but who is now a moderate with a pro-Western stance, escaped serious injury. He said he was hit in the face with a rock as the crowds chanted "Kill, Kill" and "Allahu akbar," the Arabic phrase for "God is great."

The scenes overshadowed what was supposed to be a day of reflection and remembrance for the 8,000 Muslim men and boys slaughtered at the hands of Serb forces in the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica. Two U.N. courts ruled that the killings constituted genocide.


Vucic is among the most hated individuals for Bosnian Muslims, with some viewing him in worse terms than late strongman Slobodan Milosevic. During the 1992-95 Bosnian war, Vucic was an ultranationalist politician in opposition to Milosevic, criticizing the Serb leader of leniency toward Bosnian Muslims.

Many Bosnian Muslims also still remember Vucic's incendiary statement during the Balkan wars that for every dead Serb, 100 Muslims should be killed. Some in the crowd held a banner with the quote to remind him of his past.

Vucic's security detail rushed him away, trying to protect him with bags, umbrellas and their raised arms from the projectiles raining down. His guards shoved through the angry crowd before pushing the prime minister inside an armored vehicle.

"We were attacked from all sides. It was well organized and prepared," a visibly shaken Vucic said upon his quick return to Serbia. He blamed hooligan soccer groups from Serbia and Bosnia for initiating the attack.

"Except for my glasses, I'm missing nothing else," he said.

Vucic, who came to represent Serbia at the commemoration in an apparent gesture of reconciliation, said after the attack that, "Today we are talking more about a bunch of fools rather than about the innocent victims of Srebrenica." He added that his "arms of reconciliation remain stretched toward the Bosniaks."

Serbia's foreign ministry sent a protest note to Bosnia, saying the attack was a murder attempt against Vucic and urged that the culprits be caught.

Although the crowd booed Vucic's arrival, Srebrenica widows and mothers welcomed his presence.

"Only on truth we can build a future. You cannot deny the truth," Kada Hotic, who lost her son and husband in the massacre, told Vucic before the ceremony.

The Muslim Bosniak mayor of Srebrenica, Camil Durakovic, apologized to Vucic, saying he was "deeply disappointed" about the attack.

Tens of thousands of people came to the commemorations marking two decades since Europe's worst massacre since the Holocaust.

Foreign dignitaries urged the international community not to allow such atrocities to happen again and to call the crime "genocide."

Serbia and Bosnian Serbs deny the killings were genocide, and claim that the death toll has been exaggerated.

Dozens of foreign dignitaries - including former U.S. President Bill Clinton, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Britain's Princess Anne and Jordan's Queen Noor.

"I grieve that it took us so long to unify ... to stop this violence," said Clinton, who was in office at the time of the massacre and whose administration led the NATO airstrikes against Serb positions. This ended the Bosnian war and the U.S. brokered a peace agreement.

Clinton said before the attack on Vucic: "I want to thank the prime minister of Serbia for having the courage to come here today and I think it is important that we acknowledge that."

U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson, who witnessed the attack, condemned the "deplorable acts of violence" against Vucic. He said it was "far removed from the spirit I felt at this dignified and solemn commemoration."

It wasn't the first time that top Serbian officials visited Srebrenica for commemorations. The former pro-democratic president, Boris Tadic, was there twice, including on the 10th anniversary of the massacre, and there were no major incidents.

During the war, the United Nations declared Srebrenica a safe haven for civilians. But on July 11, 1995, Serb troops overran the Muslim enclave. Some 15,000 men tried to flee through the woods toward government-held territory while others joined the town's women and children in seeking refuge at the base of the Dutch U.N. troops.

The outnumbered Dutch troops could only watch as Serb soldiers rounded up about 2,000 men for killing and later hunted down and killed another 6,000 men in the woods.

The United Nations admitted its failure to protect the town's people and on Saturday, Bert Koenders, foreign minister of Netherland said that "the Dutch government shares responsibility" and that the U.N. must strengthen United Nations missions in the future.

"Nobody can undo what happened here but we mourn with you," Koenders added.

The 1992-95 war in Bosnia, pitting Christian Orthodox Serbs against Bosnian Muslims and Croatian Catholics, left more than 100,000 people dead and millions homeless. The Serbs, who wanted to remain in the Serb-led Yugoslavia, fought against the secession of Bosnia and Croatia from the former federation.

So far, remains of some 7,000 victims have been excavated from 93 graves or collected from 314 surface locations and identified through DNA technology.

At the end of the ceremony Saturday, families laid the incomplete remains of 136 victims recently found in mass graves, including 19 teenagers.

"Most of the boys I played with are in these graves or in yet undiscovered mass graves," the mayor, Durakovic, said. "With them lies my own childhood."


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/serbian-pm-a...hter-in-bosnia/

It was organized let me tell you,my friend was there.The bosnians didnt let any of the prime M guards to take care of him,only their own.A bunch of idiots those bosnians,he should never have gone there in the first place.

This place of Balkan will never heal,dont know what is wrong with all of us.

@Alex,

What was the situation before that area became part of the Soviet Union? Were there 3 separate countries/territories for each group?
When parts of Africa were colonized, different ethnic groups and tribes were suddenly lumped together..and when those former colonies got independence...there were often bloody conflicts along ethnic lines also.

No,not even close.Yugoslavia was never part of the Soviet union,never.It was a county of same lango speaking people with diffrent religions.Thats all.Yugo was created after ww1 and disbanded in 91.Before Yugoslavia it was the Kingdom of Serbia.For the most part we all got along just fine

@Alex

I've always heard that ethnically there's little, if any, difference between Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks and that in fact the only difference between those three people is based on religion. But at their core, they all share more or less the same heritage.

100 percent true.The war was the most stupid thing that happend and it goes on as you can see.

Thanks for the correction. When you say the country disbanded in 91....that is when the USSR fell apart and became the CIS, so I assumed that Yugoslavia had been a part of the Soviet Union.

No problem getthe,never was under the influence of the Soviets.Yugo was the only country in the Communist world that lived great under socializam,most liberal eastern european country.Under Josip Broz Tito everybody was happy,when he died shit hit the fan,and people got crazy.Nationalist got power,US and western europe wanted the war also,so thats what happend.It was a great country prior to the war,now its 6 republics with no power whatsoever.But hey,we got democracy!!big f..... deal.

@Alex,

thanks for the info. My username, get these nets, is about my connection to the former New Jersey Nets. When the great Nets player Drazen Petrovic died, there was a lot of media coverage about his life and the conflict in former Yugoslavia.

Also, interesting points about socialism.
Just like certain plants and animals are native to a certain part of the world, and maybe wouldn't survive in other areas....I think that political systems are the same way.
I do understand that I am writing this living in an open and free democratic country, but I really don't think that democracy will or would work everywhere.

About Tito, again, I can take it for granted that I live in a stable country.There is political rhetoric on both sides for decades about one side ruining the country, but democracy is deeply entrenched here....and there is going to be stability and peaceful transfer for power, next election.
In more volatile regions of the world there is less margin for error for the leaders and a HUGE difference between effective and ineffective leaders and it plays a bigger factor in people's lives(or deaths). Situation in Greece is a less dramatic illustration of how ineffective leadership impacts lives. My family is from Haiti, and people there today suffer the consequences of decades of weak,ineffective, incompetent leadership.

Yes it was a tragedy what happend to Drazen Petrovic,he played good against The dream team in 1992,in the finals..if you remmember..

Of course agree with you.Same sistems dont work the same for diffrent countries,but what I was trying to say is that the country broke up they wanted to get rid of communism and get democracy and to us the balkan countries it ended up the same thing.You can vote,but the votes are fixed.A avrage man does not have any faith in tje govermant,not even 1 percent..So it hasent changed at all,and i never will.But,the difrence is we fougt ich other,our friend and neighbourgs for nothing,do you understand?There was a war in Croatia,then Bosnia than in 1999 a war in kosovo and the bombing of serbia where I live.Imagine growing up like that my friend.
I aint even gonna comment of how ineffective our ledership is.And to get back on that that Vucic was attacked in Bosnia just show how poor and backwards people get.Poverty gives birth to nationalsm,and so on...

Petrovic had a classic duel with Michael Jordan and didn't back down, in the Olympics.
The knock on Euro players at the time was that they were skilled but soft.
Petrovic and Marciulionus were the exceptions ,those guys were BALLERS.

Rest in Peace to Petro

Either an unfortunate set of coincidences...or coordinated cowardly acts of arson.

Four Orthodox Churches on three continents catch fire on the same day.

excerpt of article


The historic Manhattan cathedral that was gutted in a massive fire was one of four Christian Orthodox churches to go up in flames on Orthodox Easter Sunday — sparking fears of a coordinated attack on the religion.

While FDNY officials said the blaze at the Serbian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Sava on West 25th Street does not appear suspicious, members of the Orthodox community have doubts.

rest of the article is here

http://nypost.com/2016/05/02/coordinated-attack-feared-after-massive-cathedral-blaze/