Gore cafes in Belgrade. But not because of the heat during the summer, but from Molotov cocktails that someone throws around.
In the previous few months, explosive devices were thrown at several cafes and restaurants in Belgrade in different municipalities. Bombs damaged facades, roofs and windows, and Molotov cocktails were mostly used.
Thus, at the end of July, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at a restaurant in Vojvode Stepe Street, which caused great material damage. At the beginning of the month, a bar on Obilićevo venc was set on fire, and the thugs also targeted "Code kaffe" in Žarkovo and a well-known restaurant in Topčiderski Park. An explosive device was also thrown at the same restaurant in mid-April.
At a similar time, two coffee shops in two on the corner of Molerova and Njegoševa streets in Belgrade, in Vračar, were also destroyed, one of which is known to be "Zrno".
So far, two people have been detained, while one suspect is on the run.
Mask and burning bottle
Masked men dressed in black, with a cap and a mask came to catering establishments in the middle of the night, smashed shop windows and threw Molotov cocktails. In most cases, they escaped by motorbike.
The same principle of "work" in most cases indicates some regularities - the attackers threw flammable liquid into coffee shops that were closed, which indicates that they wanted to avoid human casualties. However, the fact that they were throwing Molotov cocktails shows that they wanted the fire to spread quickly and cause great material damage, which is what happened.
What is a Molotov cocktail?
It was used for the first time in the war between Finland and the USSR. The Finns invented it because that's how they destroyed Soviet tanks. He can often be seen in Yugoslav films.
This is a type of cheap hand-held incendiary weapon used by criminals, football hooligans, terrorists, urban guerrillas, irregular military units, but also members of regular armies. This "cheap bomb" can also indicate petty crime and attempted racketeering.
It consists of an ordinary glass bottle filled with flammable liquid and a simple ignition system. The simplest version is to pour a flammable liquid into the bottle, usually gasoline or some other oil derivative, for example diesel fuel, and to plug the bottle with a rag soaked in the same liquid. Immediately before taking effect, the cloth is ignited and the bottle is thrown away. When the bottle breaks after hitting the target, the ignited rag ignites the spilled liquid, which spreads over a large area.
A variety of other flammable liquids can be used as fuel, such as ethanol, methanol, motor oils, kerosene, turpentine, thinners, and even high-alcohol beverages.
Is there a motive?
Former assistant chief of the Criminal Police Directorate, Dejan Radenković, told "Blic TV" that there are several versions of possible motives.
"Perhaps it's a matter of regrouping some forces that want to take over someone's market - whether it's supremacy in the area of security, or supremacy in the area of business, or, in jargon, racketeering of the owners of those facilities so that in some way a specific criminal group or individual has more influence and thus gets money," said Radenković.
It's not the first time
A similar wave of attacks took place in 2021, when cafes in Belgrade were set on fire four times in one month alone. Thus, an explosive device was thrown at the cafe "D59B" in Dobračina Street in Dorćol, and the media reported that immediately before that, another bar was set on fire in Dorćol. Before that, the bar in Vukasovićeva Street in Rakovica was attacked twice - first with a bomb, and then with a "zola", which is an anti-armor missile fired from a manual rocket launcher.
Darko Trifunović, director of the Security Institute, told the media at the time that no one wants to talk about this topic because there are indications that the majority of coffee shop owners in Belgrade are involved in racketeering.
