Serbia’s prime minister is forced to flee ceremony at Srebrenica’s mass graves

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/11/serbia-pm-flees-srebrenica-tribute

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Tens of thousands of people gathered at a graveyard in Bosnia-Herzegovina yesterday to mark the 20th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre and attend the funeral of 136 newly found victims, identified using DNA analysis, who were to be buried at a memorial centre alongside a mass grave of more than 6,000.

Related: Srebrenica massacre anniversary - in pictures

The gathering was marred as crowds chased off the Serbian prime minister, Aleksandar Vucic, who had arrived with a delegation to lay flowers. Many booed him and whistled while others shouted: “Genocide!” As the mood deteriorated, witnesses described people throwing stones and bottles, before Vucic was forced to leave.

Serbia’s Tanjug state-run news agency later announced that the Serbian leader had been struck on the head by a stone and had his glasses broken. The country’s interior minister, Nebojsa Stefanovic, described the incident as an “assassination attempt”.

Eight thousand Bosnian Muslim men and boys were murdered over four days in July 1995 by Bosnian Serb death squads after they took the besieged town of Srebrenica, designated a “safe area” under the protection of United Nations troops but which became the scene of Europe’s worst atrocity since the second world war.

Serbia backed the Bosnian Serbs with soldiers and funding during the war. Bodies from the massacre are still being buried, with at least 1,000 bodies yet to be located and new victims being discovered regularly.

Among the dozens of foreign dignitaries was Bill Clinton, the American president at the time. He apologised that it had taken so long to halt the war. “I never want to see another killing field like this,” said Clinton, who praised Vucic for attending.

Despite the raw emotions of the anniversary, the day had started calmly as Vucic signed a book of condolences, and Munira Subasic, head of the Association of Srebrenica Mothers, pinned a white and green flower of remembrance on his lapel.

An open letter from Vucic stated that “Serbia clearly and unambiguously condemns this horrible crime and is disgusted with all those who took part in it and will continue to bring them to justice”.

Yet as the Serbian leader entered the graveyard, the crowd’s mood darkened with shouts of “Allahu Akbar” audible before objects were thrown at him. Stefanovic said the situation was dangerous, adding: “Bosnia failed to create even the minimal conditions for the safety of the prime minister.”

Last Wednesday, Russia vetoed a United Nations resolution calling the events of 1995 genocide, a term that angers Serbia.

Bosnian Serb and Serbian politicians have repeatedly contested the extent of the killing, despite the act being declared a genocide by the war crimes tribunal in The Hague, and the Bosnian Serb leaders Radovan Karadžic and General Ratko Mladic awaiting verdicts in trials for directing genocide.