Threatening and degrading graffiti directed against Muslims appeared on the 'Franjo Tudjman' bridge in Capljina, on Thursday which was painted over Friday, following the Capljina City Administration order.

“Irresponsible individuals wrote offensive graffiti aimed at division and hatred based on nationality, which the City of Capljina strongly condemns,” the City Administration stated.

the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton’s Police spokesperson Ljudevit Maric told N1 that this event was not included in the event report in the past 24 hours, and that they still have no information about the act.

Nevertheless, citizens were disturbed by such messages, especially after taking into account that these are not the only ones written in the city.

In the Capljina city centre, near the City Administration building, there are still disturbing graffiti like ‘Death to Balijas (offensive term for Bosnian Muslims), ‘I hate Islam’ and others. They haven't been painted over.

“This act horrified all the Muslims who live in this area, but it is not the first time that it has happened. We are talking about some of the consequences that are happening, that graffiti is partly a consequence of the relationship of city structures towards the Ministry of the Interior of Capljina, with which we have no correspondence. I hope that this incident represents the hatred of an individual towards Muslims and not any organized group of people. We were comforted by the condemnation of the City Administration of Capljina, but condemning something that was drawn under the bridge, and not condemning a mural of a convicted war criminal and supporting it, is contradictory”, the chief Imam of the Capljina Islamic Community, Adem Suta, told N1.

Capljina is not alone when it comes to such incidents. Offensive graffiti have been recorded in many cities across Herzegovina, In recent months. In Neum, the letter “U” standing for Ustasha, the WW2 Nazi aligned Croatian units, was written on the Islamic religious school, while graffiti with swastikas appeared in Mostar.