Serbia’s prime minister has been chased out of a ceremony marking the 20th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre by a huge crowd throwing stones and bottles.
Tens of thousands of people turned out for the event to remember the 8,000 Bosnian Muslims who were killed by Bosnian Serb forces in a UN refuge in 1995. But the crowd turned on Aleksandar Vučić, who was whisked away by bodyguards. The delegation were seen running for their cars and a Bosnian government source later said they had left the site.
“This is a scandalous attack and I can say it can be seen as an assassination attempt,” the Serbian interior minister, Nebojša Stefanović, said on Serbian Pink television. “Bosnia has failed to create even the minimal conditions for the safety of the prime minister.”
The Srebrenica massacre was the worst in Europe since the Holocaust and was later defined as a genocide by two international courts. This week, Russia vetoed a proposed UN resolution that called the event a genocide, sparking a diplomatic row with Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Dozens of foreign dignitaries, including Britain’s Princess Anne, the former US president Bill Clinton, Turkey’s prime minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, and Jordan’s Queen Noor, were due to attend the event.
Serbia, which backed Bosnian Serb forces with soldiers and funding during the war, last week enlisted its ally Russia to veto the British-backed UN resolution that would have condemned the denial of Srebrenica as genocide, as a UN court had ruled it was.
Saturday’s ceremony was set to include the funeral of 136 newly found victims, who were to be buried at a memorial centre alongside a mass grave of more than 6,000.
Read more: Srebrenica crowds drive Serbian prime minister from anniversary event | World news | The Guardian
Tens of thousands of people turned out for the event to remember the 8,000 Bosnian Muslims who were killed by Bosnian Serb forces in a UN refuge in 1995. But the crowd turned on Aleksandar Vučić, who was whisked away by bodyguards. The delegation were seen running for their cars and a Bosnian government source later said they had left the site.
“This is a scandalous attack and I can say it can be seen as an assassination attempt,” the Serbian interior minister, Nebojša Stefanović, said on Serbian Pink television. “Bosnia has failed to create even the minimal conditions for the safety of the prime minister.”
The Srebrenica massacre was the worst in Europe since the Holocaust and was later defined as a genocide by two international courts. This week, Russia vetoed a proposed UN resolution that called the event a genocide, sparking a diplomatic row with Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Dozens of foreign dignitaries, including Britain’s Princess Anne, the former US president Bill Clinton, Turkey’s prime minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, and Jordan’s Queen Noor, were due to attend the event.
Serbia, which backed Bosnian Serb forces with soldiers and funding during the war, last week enlisted its ally Russia to veto the British-backed UN resolution that would have condemned the denial of Srebrenica as genocide, as a UN court had ruled it was.
Saturday’s ceremony was set to include the funeral of 136 newly found victims, who were to be buried at a memorial centre alongside a mass grave of more than 6,000.
Read more: Srebrenica crowds drive Serbian prime minister from anniversary event | World news | The Guardian
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