Fascism against anti-fascism: Mostar police knew an incident would occur

Written by: Amra Vrabac

The Mostar police did not allow the anti-fascist parade to the Partisan Cemetery due to questionable security, confirmed for the Patria News Agency the spokesperson of the MUP of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton, Ljudevit Marić.

Despite the fact that there was no march, as buses with 2,000 participants arrived at the Partisan Cemetery under police escort, the police nevertheless did not prevent an attack by hooligans who threw objects at the anti-fascists and the buses. At the Partisan Cemetery, hooligans wrote Ustasha slogans and symbols as a sign of "welcome" for the anti-fascists, telling them they do not belong there.

Marić denies that stones and bottles were thrown, stating that "only one flare" was thrown. When asked whether the perpetrator has been identified and taken into custody, Marić says the police are still searching for the perpetrator or perpetrators.

He could not answer how many police officers were securing today's gathering.

"There was a sufficient number of police officers," says Marić, confirming that several days before the gathering they had information that an incident could occur.

The blame for today's scenario lies precisely with the Mostar police. Knowing the risk due to which the anti-fascist march was evidently banned, the police did not take the necessary steps to ensure today's gathering passed without incidents or to possibly catch the perpetrators even before the attack.

The MUP of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton failed the general knowledge test today. The incident, which could certainly have been prevented by an adequate police response, has cast an additional stain on the divided city of Mostar. The Minister of the MUP of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton, Slađan Bevanda (HDZ BiH), did not comment after today's rampage by a group of hooligans. Minister Bevanda remained silent on the attack on more than 2,000 participants of today's gathering, who came from BiH as well as from countries in the region.

Such an uncivilized attack in broad daylight, in the presence of police, is only an indicator that the policy of the HDZ has hit rock bottom, glorifying Ustasha ideology, defending war criminals openly, while constantly invoking "European values" and calling the Croatian people "promoters of BiH's European path." If this is the European path that the HDZ and Čović envision for BiH, then we do not need it. For BiH, it is better to remain shackled by the ghosts of the past than to suffer the open fascism of the HDZ under the guise of false European values.

Today's attack can also be interpreted as a message that the victims who fell for the defense of Mostar were in vain, because the younger generations, tasked with never allowing a new occupation, have actually gone to the dark side of history. It is precisely because of such incidents that the fight against fascism must be strengthened twice as much as the radical and fascist currents in BiH, supported by our geographically closest neighbors, Croatia and Serbia, remain alive.
 
While those who glorify convicted war criminals can parade through Mostar, anti-fascists in the western part of Mostar cannot walk freely, nor express true human values, because they conflict with HDZ politics.

It is hard to imagine that among the group of hooligans today there could ever be a Srđan Aleksić, who risked his life for a neighbor belonging to another people.