ZAGREB, September 6, 2019 - A total of 14 men, aged between 19 and 29, have been arrested to date in connection with the 21 August Uzdolje incident, while one more suspect is still on the run, police told a news conference in the Adriatic city of Šibenik on Friday.

All the arrested persons have criminal records for football hooliganism.

The arrests were the result of the investigation by the Šibenik-Knin and Split-Dalmatia county police into the incident that occurred in the village of Uzdolje on 21 August when a group of masked thugs raided a cafe, beat up some of the guests who were watching a TV broadcast of a football match between Red Star Belgrade and the Swiss side Young Boys, and damaged the interior of the bar. The damage is estimated at 25,000 kuna (3,400 euro).

The prosecution claims that the suspects intentionally attacked local Serbs who were watching the match.

The first arrests were made in late August when four suspects were apprehended on suspicion of committing violence out of hatred. Ten more hooligans have been arrested since then.

More news about the incidents can be found in the Politics section.

Good news for the City of Knin as a significant sum of money is set aside which will also help to increase employability as well as stimulate potential employment opportunities for those residents who are currently out of work.

As Sasa Paparella/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 1st of September, 2019, Labour and Pension Minister Josip Aladrović and Croatian Employment Service Director Ante Lončar awarded eighteen contracts worth more than  17.7 million kuna on Friday in the Knin area.

The allocation of this sum is part of the implementation of the call for proposals, development and the implementation of social cohesion and employment enhancement programs in the cities of Knin, Beli Manastir and the municipalities of Darda, Benkovac, Petrinja and Vukovar. " The total grant for all of these often overlooked Croatian cities and municipalities is an impressive 76.4 million kuna.

The focus of the project is to assist the more vulnerable population groups living in these areas, such as refugees, displaced persons, returnees, Croatian veterans and members of the Roma minority, with the aim of improving social services and facilities for the elderly, persons with disabilities, as well as for children and young people up to 29 years of age.

As stated, another aim of this money is also to increase employability as well as employment opportunities for Knin's residents who have found themselves out of work, including the long-term unemployed, and to develop cultural and artistic services for all residents in the aforementioned cities and areas, worth 120 million kuna.

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ZAGREB, August 28, 2019 - Police have arrested eight persons suspected on participating in Uzdolje near Knin on August 21 in an attack against the patrons of a bar who were watching a football game between Serbia's Red Star and Switzerland's Young Boys, Šibenik county police said on Wednesday.

The eight persons accused of rioting are from the Split area, police said, adding that more would be revealed after an investigation was completed. The perpetrators face from six months to five years in prison.

The media recall that two attacks were committed last Wednesday on Serb bar patrons watching the game, one in Uzdolje and one in Đevrske. The perpetrators in Đevrske, two men aged 25 and 28, insulted the patrons on ethnic grounds but were soon arrested as the owner of the bar and the patrons identified them.

The attack in Uzdolje was more serious and apparently organised. A dozen persons wearing ski masks allegedly entered the bar with clubs and a machete, destroying the premises and injuring the patrons, Jutarnji List daily said.

More news about the incidents can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, August 25, 2019 - Croatia's Foreign and European Affairs Ministry says that the statement by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić that the armed rebellion of local Serbs against Croatia's authorities in the early 1990s aimed at undermining the Constitutional and legal order was justified is absolutely unacceptable.

The ministry calls on Serbia to abandon the rhetoric that is detrimental to the bilateral relations as well as to stop manipulating the facts and start enhancing the status of the ethnic Croat minority.

Ministry warns about Serbia's attempts to downplay its responsibility for aggression against Croatia

"The Republic of Croatia refutes any attempt of downplaying Serbia's responsibility for causing the armed conflict and aggression against Croatia's state territory, which were the results of the Great Serbia policy of Slobodan Milošević," the ministry underscores in a press release it issued on Sunday.

Zagreb recalls that many relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council and General Assembly, verdicts of the Hague-based UN-tribunal for war crimes in former Yugoslavia (ICTY) as well as the judgement of the International Court of Justice in the case of Croatia's genocide lawsuit against Serbia and Serbia's counter-suit, clearly speak about Serbia's responsibility for these developments in the 1990s.

Furthermore, these continuous attempts to interfere in the internal affairs of a neighbouring country is something that makes a distinction between the policies led by Serbia and Croatia.

"Contrary to such Serbian attempts, Croatia is interested in the stability of its neighbourhood and is open to transfer its own experiences to its neighbouring countries during their journey to the European Union."

"We do not allow the disrespect for the fact that Croatia is a sovereign and independent country, created following the democratically expressed will of its people (to have its state) and defended during the imposed war," the ministry says reiterating Zagreb's commitment to developing harmonious good-neighbourly relations with all neighbours.

Croatia provides its minorities with the highest level of protection of their rights and is building a tolerant and inclusive society based on the rule of law and trust among citizens.

"Croatia calls on Serbia to enhance the status of the Croat national minority in the Republic of Serbia, in accordance with the obligations it has assumed, instead of manipulating the facts, and to abandon the rhetoric aimed at reviving the defeated projects detrimental to the relations between the two neighbouring countries."

Following the recent incidents in two cafes near Knin in which guests were assaulted while watching a TV broadcast of the Belgrade-based Zrvena Zvezda's football match, Vučić told Serbian media on Saturday that "it is understandable" that 30 years ago the largest part of local Serbs launched a rebellion against Croatia's authorities.

Vučić described those incidents as "awful" and promised Serbia's help to its people in Croatia.

The 21 August assault against guests in a cafe in the village of Uzdolje near Knin is qualified by the Šibenik county law enforcement and prosecutorial authorities as an act of causing riot, the Šibenik police said on Saturday. The perpetrators, who are facing criminal charges for their riotous behaviour, have not yet been identified. The offence carries a prison sentence from six months to five years. As far as a similar incident in the Đevirske village is concerned, misdemeanour charges have been filed against five people and one person is charged with a criminal offence.

More news about relations between Croatia and Serbia can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, August 25, 2019 - A Croatian member of the European Parliament, Ruža Tomašić, as well as a presidential candidate, Miroslav Škoro, on Saturday criticised the Croatian Serb leader Milorad Pupovac of "adding fuel to the flames" following the incidents in two cafes near Knin.

Following Pupovac's statements that the situation in Croatia's society resembled the times in the aftermath of Croatia's war of independence and that he would inform international institutions of the violations of minority rights, MEP Ruža Tomašić says on her Facebook profile that every violence should be condemned and perpetrators should be brought to justice, however, the politicisation "is counterproductive".

Tomašić says that Pupovac's rhetoric more and more resembles that of by Croatian Serb rebel leaders -- Jovan Rašković, Milan Babić and Mile Martić -- "who intimidated members of the Serb minority in Croatia and incited them to turn against their homeland".

Škoro says on his Facebook account that Pupovac's rhetoric looks like statements and views of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić.

"Instead of defusing the tensions created in the incident, Pupovac adds fuel to the flames, and wants to score political points from the attacks against Croatian citizens, which deserves absolute condemnation."

Both Škoro and Tomašić criticise the ruling majority of keeping silent to Pupovac's claims.

The 21 August assault against guests in a cafe in the village of Uzdolje near Knin is qualified by the Sibenik county law enforcement and prosecutorial authorities as an act of causing riot.

The police are searching for masked thugs who inflicted injuries to several people, including a 9-year-old boy, and damaged the interior of that cafe on Wednesday evening while in its guests were watching a TV broadcast of a football match between the Belgrade-based Crvena Zvezda and the Swiss club Young Boys. A few guests sustained light injuries and a 17-year-old injured boy was hospitalised in the Knin hospital for some time for his injuries.

In the Đevrske cafe thee guests were exposed to verbal attacks that night.

More news about the Knin incidents can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, August 24, 2019 - The Croatian police are conducting extensive investigations into the 21 August incidents in cafes in the village of Đevrske and in the village of Uzdolje near Knin, and considering the Đevirske case, misdemeanour charges have been filed against five people and one person is charged with a criminal offence, Interior Minister Davor Božinović said on Saturday, expressing hope that the Uzdolje investigation will also result in the detection of the perpetrators.

The police are investigating the incidents which happened this past Wednesday when guests, including a 9-year-boy, and the owner of Uzdolje cafe were beaten, while in the Đevrske cafe they were exposed to verbal attacks while they were watching a TV broadcast of the football match of the Belgrade-based Crvena Zvezda club.

"The assaults should be condemned just as any violence should be condemned. The state institutions, notably those whose responsibility is to ensure peace and order are supposed to act promptly and efficiently. The police have shown that they act efficiently and they will be efficient in the future, too," the minister said after a commemorative ceremony in the village of Žuta Lokva where the tribute was paid to the four Croatian policemen who were killed in that Lika village at the start of the Croatian Homeland War in 1991. The four policemen, who were patrolling road traffic, were killed and one traffic officer was wounded in an artillery attack launched by local Serb paramilitary and rebel forces on 24 August 1991.

The minister confirmed that a suspect was arrested on Saturday morning in connection with the case in Viskovo, Rijeka, where a local inhabitant, 70, told media that he had been beaten and injured in an incident based on his ethnicity. The incident happened two days ago.

More news about the Knin incidents can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, August 23, 2019 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Friday reiterated his condemnation of the Knin incidents and called on the relevant agencies to spare no effort to identify and sanction the perpetrators.

Plenković said that the assaults against ethnic Serbs in the two villages near Knin were evidently premeditated and all should be done to detect and sanction the perpetrators.

Plenković also insisted that he and his cabinet had clearly and promptly condemned all the incidents against ethnic Serbs.

The premier recalled that the ruling majority in the parliament included representatives of ethnic minorities, including the Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS) and other ethnic minority lawmakers, at the initiative of his cabinet.

We included them at the moment when, perhaps, it was not necessary for the formation of the government. It was my wish that minorities be a part of the parliamentary majority, Plenković said.

Croatia has accomplished all its strategic issues such as freedom, democracy, reintegration of the occupied territories, peace and its positioning in the European Union and NATO, the functioning of institutions. We must act as a self-confident nation that appreciates the efforts of minorities in its country an protects their rights, Plenković said.

Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović said on Friday that she condemned every violence, and explained that she would comment on the August 21 incidents in Knin when she was provided with the relevant police report on the case.

"I condemn every violence, and I am going to comment on that Knin incident, when I receive a detailed police report," the president said in a brief address to the press when she was asked about the incidents in which bar-goers, including a 9-year-old child, were injured and exposed to insults in the two cafes in Knin while they were watching a TV broadcast of the football match of the Belgrade-based Crvena Zvezda club.

Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković said today that the police had taken all necessary steps so far and arrested two suspects in connection with the incidents.

"The state leadership clearly condemns the attack, and our message is that we expect the relevant institutions to find the perpetrators and punish them in judicial proceedings so as to send a message to others," Jandroković said.

Jandroković said that trends showed that in Europe as well in Croatia radical right and left elements had political strength.

"However, the dominant climate in the Croatian society very clearly condemns violence and promotes tolerance, peace, cooperation and mutual respect," Jandoković said.

He advocates that younger generations should be taught that peace, freedom and democracy do not come easily and that they have to be built and bequeathed to coming generations. He also called for eliminating the promotion of both right or left extremism.

More news about Knin incidents can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, August 23, 2019 - Šibenik-Knin police have arrested a 28 and 25 year old who insulted the owner and guests in a cafe in Knin on Wednesday evening based on ethnicity while an investigation into an incident that occurred in another cafe near Knin that evening in which the owner of the cafe and several guests were injured, is still continuing.

The police on Friday reported that the two suspects have been indicted for disturbing the peace and order.

An investigation into the incident determined that the two entered the cafe under the influence of alcohol and then insulted the 62-year old owner of the cafe based on ethnicity and in that way disturbed the peace and order.

The two were later brought before Šibenik Municipal Court.

The police are still investigating an incident in Uzdolj near Knin when a group of masked thugs attacked guests in a cafe who were watching a Serbian football match.

Five people were slightly injured in that incident including a 9-year old minor and material damages were caused to the cafe.

The police have arrested several suspects in connection to this incident.

More news about the Knin events can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, August 22, 2019 - Presidential hopeful Zoran Milanović on Thursday called out President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović for not speaking up about an attack on several ethnic Serbs that occurred in Knin on Wednesday evening.

He said that the election is drawing closer and incidents of this nature could occur "at the expense of the weaker and fewer ethnic Serbs in Knin, who it seems will be paying 'interest in arrears' for the mistakes of their fathers, for the next one thousand years."

Milanović posted on his Facebook profile that the "expression 'Great Serbia aggression' in fact serves to isolate Great Serbia megalomaniacs who have been bullying (us) and neighbouring peoples for more than a hundred years."

"If we were to say just 'Serb aggression,' that would refer to all Serbs," he added.

Aggression as such need not be contentious for anyone unless Vučić becomes flustered, so dear HDZ candidate (for the presidency) I hope I was of some help," Milanović posted.

More news about presidential elections can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, August 22, 2019 - Five guests, including a minor, sustained light injuries when unidentified attackers came in the cafe near Knin where those guests were, according to local web portals, watching a football match of the Belgrade-based Crvena Zvezda football club on Wednesday evening.

The Šibenik-Knin county police stated on Thursday that about 2230 hrs Wednesday, unidentified persons entered the cafe at Uzdolje, and after verbal insults they attacked the cafe owner and the guests and damaged the cafe furniture. In the incident, the five people suffered light injuries.

After that, a similar incident happened in cafe in the nearby village of Đevrske when also unidentified persons entered the facility and verbally abused the owner and guests. They damaged some of the property in the cafe, however, there were no injuries.

The police said that they qualified the incidents as violent behaviour.

The law enforcement authorities have already brought some of the persons believed to be connected with the incident in to the police station.

Local web portals have in the meantime reported that the incidents happened in the cafes in which guests watched the first leg of a Young Boys - Crvena Zvezda UEFA playoff match in Bern.

Health Minister Milan Kujundžić said on Thursday that the information available to him indicated that none of the injured five bar-goers who were attacked near Knin while they were watching a football match of the Belgrade-based Crvena Zvezda was in a life-threatening condition, and he condemned the incident as a disgrace.

"I condemn the incident," Kujundžić told the press before the start of the government's meeting. I heard about the incident and the information which I possess says that none of the injured is in a life-threatening condition. It is shameful that this happened, the minister said.

The law enforcement authorities have already brought some of the persons believed to be connected with the incident in to the police station.

A member of the Croatian parliament, Boris Milošević who is at the helm of the Serb People's Council (SNV), wrote on his Facebook profile that the incidents in the cafes near Knin "is one more attack against the Serbs, which is incited only by the hatred towards the ethnicity of the attacked persons."

More news about the status of Serbs in Croatia can be found in the Politics section.