Serbia PM attacks at Srebrenica ceremonies
Jul 11, 2015, 5:24 AM
People light candles during a meeting to mark the 20th anniversary of the Srebrenica tragedy when in 1995 Bosnian Serb forces stormed the enclave and systematically killed thousands of Bosnian Muslims, in Belgrade, Serbia, late Friday, July 10, 2015. Fearing unrest, Serbia's police on Friday banned gatherings honoring the victims of the Srebrenica massacre 20 years ago as well as those by ultranationalists who have threatened to disrupt the event. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
(AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
SREBRENICA, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Anger boiled over Saturday at a massive commemoration of the Srebrenica slaughter 20 years ago as people pelted Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic with water bottles and other objects.
Vucic’s associate, Suzana Vasiljevic, told The Associated Press that he was hit in the face with a stone and his glasses were broken. Vasiljevic said she was behind Vucic when “masses broke the fences and turned against us.”
Tens of thousands came to mark the 20th anniversary of Europe’s worst massacre since the Holocaust — the slaughter of 8,000 Muslims from the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica — with foreign dignitaries urging the international community not to allow such atrocities to happen again and to call the crime “genocide.”
Vucic, once an ultra-nationalist, came to represent his country at the commemoration in an apparent gesture of reconciliation.
As Vucic entered the cemetery to lay flowers, thousands booed and whistled. Someone threw a shoe at him, others threw water bottles and other objects.
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