Parliament: Claims that Croatians are behind protests in Serbia are a continuation of hate speech

The claims that Croatian intelligence services are behind the protests in Serbia are a continuation of hate speech against Croatia, and Croatia will turn to European institutions to end this practice, is the message of the parliamentary committees for foreign policy and Croats outside of the Republic of Croatia after a joint session on Friday.

Demonstrations have been ongoing in Serbia since November due to the deadly collapse of a canopy in Novi Sad, for which protesters blame corruption at the highest levels, and for violence against protesters.

The authorities in Serbia, directly or through pro-regime media, claim that Croatian intelligence services are behind the protests, publish photos of Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing students who are allegedly Croatian spies, publicly display the documents of Croatian journalists and other citizens, and arrest members of non-governmental organizations.

 The mayor of Subotica, a city in northern Vojvodina with a large Croat minority, went the furthest, saying on Tuesday that the Ustashas attacked Serbia.

Jasna Vojnić, a Croatian Democratic Union MP born in Subotica and representative of Serbian Croats in Parliament, said that the rhetoric of blaming Croatia for the protests is hate speech against Croatia, which is not an incident or a case, but a long-standing policy of Serbia.

She emphasized that parliamentary committees are calling for zero tolerance towards Serbia in order to stop such rhetoric and announced that Croatia will turn to European institutions such as the European Commission to stop the spread of interethnic intolerance.

The chairwoman of the Committee for Croats Abroad, Zdravka Bušić, announced that Vojnić and she would inform, in addition to the EC, the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs about the position of Croats in Serbia.

The chairwoman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Andro Krstulović Opara, emphasized that the joint session of these parliamentary bodies on Friday was closed in order to not give arguments to the media machinery in Serbia, which is run by President Aleksandar Vučić and creates drama out of every sentence related to Serbia or Vojvodina.

Opara said that by accusing Croatia of the protests, Serbia is devaluing tens of thousands of protesters who took to the streets because they want democracy, the rule of law, peace and good neighborly relations.

“We want Serbia to stop looking for external enemies,” Opara continued.

He pointed out that this is a systematic, unprincipled and vicious policy of Serbia, which has been pursued since the Greater Serbia politician Ilija Garašanin and the SANU memorandum to the current situation when Croats in Vojvodina are being separated from the motherland by inventing the Bunjevci nation and are being intimidated so that they will not declare themselves Croats.

Opara said that it is in the interest of Serbia to cooperate with Croatia, just as it is in its interest to have stable and peaceful democracies in its neighborhood that will not spread destabilization.

He emphasized that the people of Serbia have certainly understood who is muddying their waters, where the path of truth lies and who is well-intentioned.

Source: HRT