The veteran association VeDRA from Split, however, did not throw a wreath into the Danube near Vukovar today in memory of the citizens of Serbian nationality who were killed in 1991, because about fifty veterans prevented their arrival at Otok sportova (Sports Island), where the wreath was supposed to be laid.
„We gathered to protest against that association and their plan to throw a wreath into the Danube for Serbian victims during the days of remembrance. If they want to lay a wreath somewhere, let them go to Borovo Selo and lay it there for all the victims who were killed there. Last year we prevented such announcements, and now they are showing up – this is a provocation,” said the president of Vukovar’s Hvidra, Slavko Jurić.
Representatives of the VeDRA association did not appear at Otok sportova, but, as announced by the president of the association Ranko Britvić, they laid the wreath in the Danube near Borovo Selo. Before that, they laid flowers at the monument for the 12 killed policemen.
“We made the decision due to high risk”
„In conversation with police representatives, who were extremely professional, we decided not to lay the wreath in the Danube near Vukovar due to high risk. After everything, I can say that I feel extremely uncomfortable and like a foreigner in my own country. We wanted to lay a wreath in the Danube in memory of the large number of Vukovar Serbs who were innocently killed and thrown into the river. Why would we choose a different time when they are also victims? I thought it was difficult to be a living Serb in Croatia, but it seems it is not easy to be a dead Serb either,” said Britvić.
The Mayor of Vukovar, Marijan Pavliček, stated that he sees the announcement of throwing a wreath into the Danube as a provocation.
Pavliček: That is a pure provocation
„On the eve of the day when the greatest suffering of the Croatian people is commemorated, someone who lives in Split and has nothing to do with Vukovar and Croatian defenders decides to throw a wreath into the Danube to provoke citizens and pilgrims. At my request, Vukovar Serbs gave up opening the exhibition ‘Serbian Woman, Heroine of the Great War’, as well as throwing a wreath into the Danube, because they believe that tensions should be calmed down. These are people who live here, and now someone is coming from outside. That is a pure provocation and such a person is not welcome in Vukovar,” said Pavliček.
The throwing of the wreath was also opposed by the Vukovar veteran and former detainee of Serbian camps, Stipe Mlinarić Ćipe, a representative in the Croatian Parliament, who requested the Ministry of the Interior (MUP) to enforce the law.
„The law precisely stipulates the places where the victims of Vukovar are commemorated from November 17 to 20. Let the MUP act according to the law and not create this circus every year, so that people don’t have to organize themselves. Milorad Pupovac tried this in previous years, and I prevented it, and now he is doing the same performance through some associations that no one has heard of. It won’t pass for them,” Mlinarić said.
“There were no Serbian victims there, but a massacre of Croats”
He also added that there is no reason to throw a wreath into the Danube on November 17, because there were no Serbian victims there, but a massacre of Croats.
Until last year, on November 17, representatives of the Serbian National Council and the SDSS laid a wreath in the Danube near Vukovar in memory of all victims, but last year, after the announcement of the veterans, they were prevented from doing so. At that time, without much fanfare, the wreath was laid by representatives of the VeDRA association.
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Source: Index.hr, Photo: Hina