The association also demands an immediate response from the competent authorities in insurance physical security of Arsenijević and all citizens who gather on the occasion of the commemoration of the genocide in Srebrenica and similar events, it was stated in the announcement of the Board of Directors, which was signed by Dubravka Stojanović, Olga Manojlović Pintar, Olga Kavran, Boris Buden, Igor Štiks and Milena Berić.
"Krokodil" demands that state officials unequivocally recognize the genocide in Srebrenica and the final break with the practice of denying, relativizing and glorifying war criminals, because attacks like the attack on Arsenijević are their direct consequence.
Arsenijević was attacked on Saturday morning, when he was met by a group of 20 to 30 young men who threatened him, hit him and desecrated the area where the commemoration of the victims of the genocide in Srebrenica was supposed to be held with graffiti glorifying the convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić and the Army of Republika Srpska, which committed the genocide, the statement said.
The board of directors added that the commemoration of the "People Remember People" coalition, which was to be attended by the ambassador of the Netherlands, had to be canceled for security reasons, as a result of which the attackers prevented the citizens of Serbia from peacefully, publicly and dignifying honoring the murdered.
Stating that the attack on Arsenijević was neither the first nor an isolated one, the Association pointed out that it is the last in a series of attacks on the "Crocodile" and on all those who seek responsibility for the wars of the 1990s, for the victims and for the way they are remembered, not only on other sides, but also in their own society and in the institutions of the state of Serbia.
In a statement, the Board of Directors stated that attempts to discredit all those who fight for the truth about war crimes and the genocide in Srebrenica have been going on for years, and that over time they became more and more radical and brutal - from graffiti and verbal violence on social networks, they moved into the public space, so that on Saturday, their perpetrators would brutally attack Arsenijević and his physical integrity.
"Those assault squads never choose their victims by themselves and never react independently - they are an extended arm of the political structures on whose orders they act," the Association stated, adding that they have now attacked Arsenijević, who for decades has been a clear and strong voice against hatred, violence, nationalism and war both in the territory of the former Yugoslavia and today, in Ukraine or Palestine.
Attacking a man who builds a space for books, dialogue and facing the facts means an attack on all of us who care about those values. We rightly wonder who is next, the Association pointed out and pointed out that such organized groups have been attacking students, citizens and journalists on the streets and squares of Serbia for years.
"This attack is in no way different, and we expect that, regardless of ideological differences, all relevant social and political actors will unequivocally condemn it," stated the members of the Board of Directors, with the message that they firmly stand by Arsenijević.
Source: Phonet
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