Bosniak parents in the eastern town of Srebrenica gathered for a protest in front of a local primary school on Wednesday morning after a photo of a group of students with ‘Brothers Chetniks’ written above it, taken during the school’s celebration of an Orthodox Christian holiday, emerged on social media earlier this week.
The controversial photo of the nine students, taken during the school’s Saint Sava Day celebration on Monday, caused an uproar among Bosniaks in Srebrenica who said they fear for their children’s safety.
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The Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army was a WWII Serb nationalist movement. During the 1992-95 Bosnian war, Serb nationalists wearing Chetnik insignia committed numerous crimes against humanity against the non-Serb population in the Bosnia – including the 1995 Srebrenica genocide.
The Wednesday morning protest lasted only an hour, as the parents said they did not want their children to miss classes.
“Our demands are, among others, that a council of parents is formed which would play a certain role in the work of the school,” said Mirnes Zahirovic, one of the parents, adding that such a request was ignored until now.
He said there will be more demands and that the parents will give the school a week to respond.
“If they don’t, we will gather again and determine our next steps,” he said.
