SARAJEVO, September 1 (FENA) - The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina's Committee for the Protection of the Rights of the Serbs announced that the Una-Sana Cantonal Ministry of Interior, with its decision to ban the commemoration for 12,000 Serbs killed in World War II in Garavice near Bihać, has set a precedent that may put into question all commemorations in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
They point out that the statement from the Minister of the Interior of the Una-Sana Canton that the commemoration for the killed Serbs in Garavice has not been approved because of migrants and the possibility of incidents to happen is completely illogical, since last year there were migrants in the Una-Sana Canton as well, and last year a memorial was held in Garavice without any incident.
Also, they find it interesting that the USC Ministry of Interior has now decided to ban all public gatherings in the entire canton, although concerts and numerous events that have gathered thousands of people, individual cultural events, have taken place all summer in the city of Bihać and other municipalities in the USC with up to 10,000 people attending.
They state that Garavice Memorial Park is three kilometers away from the center of Bihać, and is also far enough from the Vučijak Migrant Center, "so that the explanation of the USC MoI is unfounded, and there are obviously other reasons why the commemoration has not been approved."
"This precedent set by the USC MoI opens a Pandora's box, and may reflect on the holding of all commemorations in BiH held by other ethnicities, as the MoI provides arguments that tomorrow some other ministry of interior may possibly use to ban the request of Bosniak associations to hold commemorations at places where Bosniaks were killed. If the USC MoI stands firm behind this ban for Garavice, then they have no awareness of the meaning of the fact of 12,000 people being killed just because they had a wrong name," said the FBiH Committee for the Protection of the Rights of Serb People.
(FENA) S. R.