Day of White Ribbons in Prijedor: Peaceful walk and laying of flowers for 102 murdered children

PRIJEDOR, (Patria) - The Day of White Ribbons, May 31st, is a commemoration of more than 3,000 murdered residents of the Prijedor region. It is observed in Bosnia and Herzegovina and numerous European and world cities.

On that day in 1992, Bosnian Serb authorities ordered the non-Serb population to wear white ribbons around their arms and to hang white sheets on their houses and apartments.

This is what the call broadcast via Radio Prijedor on May 31, 1992, said:

"Citizens of Serb nationality, join your army and police in pursuing extremists. Other citizens, of Muslim and Croatian nationality, must hang white flags on their houses and apartments and wear white ribbons on their arms. Otherwise, they will face severe consequences."

The International Day of White Ribbons in Prijedor is marked by a peaceful walk through the streets of Prijedor and the laying of 102 flowers for the 102 murdered children of Prijedor, who still do not have their monument today, even though the request has been submitted to the city authorities.

According to the data of the Association "Prijedor '92", to date, 3,176 residents of Prijedor have been registered as murdered or missing during the war, mostly civilians, predominantly Bosniaks, followed by Croats, as well as murdered Roma, Albanians, and some Serbs. Among the victims were 256 women and 102 children.

It is important to emphasize that the crimes in Prijedor began even before May 1992. Three Prijedor camps (Omarska, Keraterm, and Trnopolje) were already open and full of civilians. Approximately 12,000 Bosniaks were expelled from the Hambarine and Kozarac areas, and their property was looted and destroyed, all Bosniak and Croat political representatives were removed from their public positions, arrested or killed, and Bosniak and Croat police officers were removed from their jobs.

The president of the Regional Association of Camp Detainees of the Banja Luka region and former detainee of Omarska, Manjača, and Trnopolje, Mirsad Duratović, stated that the white ribbons are one of the proofs of the intention to commit genocide in Prijedor, as a group was marked in a visible and clear way for extermination and expulsion from that territory.