SNV Bulletin #6 Govor mržnje i nasilje prema Srbima u 2015

Hate Speech and Violence Against Serbs in 2015
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SNV and Documenta – The Centre for Dealing with the Past.
Rightist portals and Slobodna Dalmacija daily, whose front page
on July 25 was headlined “They are Preparing a Counter-Storm in
Rijeka”, had incited the public for days against holding this event,
prompting the A-HSP, war veterans’ association and the Armada
football fan club from Rijeka to announce protests. Presuming
that participants and visitors might become the targets of
assaults, the SNV informed the police about the event beforehand.
While constantly chanting fascist salutes, those who gathered in
front of the theatre shouted in the presence of the police: “Open
the doors”, “We Croats do not drink wine, only blood of Chetniks
from Knin” and “Ustasha flag is flying for freedom and for home”.
At 9:30 p.m. a group of activists and journalists were physical
attacked while waiting for an organised return to Zagreb by bus.
The police did not provide them with appropriate protection, i.e. it
failed to prevent the attacks against them.
/1.5.6. Attempts to Prevent Entertainment
and Cultural Manifestations
Serbian folk music star Miroslav Ilić was prevented from holding
a concert in Vinkovci which was to take place February 12
through an action of the part of the local public. The concert was
cancelled after the Association of Homeland War Volunteers
and Veterans’ Vinkovci branch sent an open letter to the city and
state institutions. In the letter they sought a permanent ban for
Ilić’s concerts in Vinkovci and in Croatia, the same as for all the
others who “had advocated and glorified the Chetniks”. The first
festival of ojkače (a type of folk singing), organized by a branch
of the Serb Cultural Association Prosvjeta, was successfully held
in Petrinja on June 8, but it was marred by protests from the
right-wingers in the concert hall.
/2 Elements of Hate Speech or Spreading
Ethnic Intolerance in Statements and
Acts by Public Figures
The first half of the year will also be remembered for a statement
made by Anica Kovač, the former Miss Croatia, who
was a guest at the “Gathering of Togetherness 100 percent for