Representatives of the Serbian Orthodox Church's Herzegovina eparchy apologised on Tuesday to the Trebinje Islamic Community's regional centre (Majlis) after last week's incident when a group of youths sang nationalist and insulting songs in front of the Trebinje Majlis, Radio Trebinje reports.

“We condemn this incident which is the result of total lack of manners, distaste and verbal violence. Whoever did that, they should know that is not the way to treat a man who has awareness about himself and others,” priest Drazenj Tupanjanin said.

He added that the arrival of the Serb Orthodox Church representatives to the Trebinje Majlis is their way of showing friendship and social responsibility.

“If our youth acts this way, we feel a sense of responsibility because we've probably missed some things which still need some proper explaining. In that sense, we feel responsible and we offer our apologies, hoping that similar cases will only be part of an ugly past and that our future relations will be built on love and peace, as our faith commands us,” he noted.

The head Imam (Muslim priest) of the Trebinje Majlis Sadik Fazlagic said that the police reacted quickly and that the good people of Trebinje supported the Imam who witnessed the incident Sadmir Mustafic and the Islamic Community.

“This gives us hope that these are individual cases which must be fought against in the future. This visit is a big step in that direction and we thank the Serb Orthodox Church for publicly condemning this incident which we expect the city authorities to do so that similar events wouldn't happen again,” Fazlagic concluded.