[fpn_atrocities] Atrocities: Belgrade--Women in Black activists attacked
FPN
The following is a report from Women in Black, Belgrade:
At 12:30 in the morning on January 22, Violeta ikanovi and MiloE!
UroE!evi , two Women in Black activists, were violently attacked by
three skinheads in the passage between Sremska Street and Zeleni Venac
in central Belgrade. They were returning from Dom Omladine (a youth
cultural center), where they were awaiting the results of the
parliamentary election with the electoral staff of the Liberal
Democratic Party-Social Democratic Union coalition.
MiloE! was heckled, bsee that faggot. I know you. You are part of
Women in Black. Because of you, I have a criminal record.b
Violeta reacted, turning to the heckler, bAre you saying something to
me?b Upon hearing that, he turned towards the activists. He grabbed
MiloE! by the hair and dragged him to the ground. Violeta sprayed him
in the eye. Then, another neo-Nazi grabbed her hand. She sprayed him
in the eye as well. In that moment, he threw her and she flew towards
the stairs. She fell down the stairs, bruising the right side of her face.
She was taken to the emergency room, where it was concluded that there
was no serious damage besides contusions on her face. The police were
called. They said that they would come the following day to take
statements instead of appearing right away.
This situation only confirms the position of peace activists and
defenders of human rights in Serbia. Our security is endangered by the
state as well as by neo-Nazi and clero-fascist individuals and groups.
The logical continuation of media campaigns and public demonization
usually is physical attacks to which the authorities do not react.
Serbia continues to be a place of unpunished violence, in which
violence against those who think differently is excused.
We, Women in Black, consider this attack to be politically motivated.
It is a continuation of the campaign of attacks against us since the
beginning of our work in 1991. The methods change, depending on the
political situation, but Women in Black, as well as related
organizations, have always been the object of attacks because of their
support for a different values system, primarily because of their
persistent, public, and clear support for a break from the criminal
past. We consider such attacks a continuation of low-intensity
warB-producing fear and intimidating those who are different. Attacks
have not and will not deter us from our work. We will continue
working for peace, justice and reconciliation through nonviolent means.