Sarajevo marked 31 May: Prijedor's white ribbon is darker than any darkness

On the occasion of marking the White Ribbon Day, a wall was set up today at the Children of Sarajevo Square (BBI Center plateau) where citizens wrote messages that will be given to one of the museums in Sarajevo for safekeeping. The first message was written by academician Abdulah Sidran: "Prijedor's white ribbon is darker than any darkness," writes the Bosnian news agency Patria.

White ribbons were distributed to the citizens of Sarajevo to symbolically remind them of the order issued by the wartime authorities of Prijedor on 31 May 1992. Via the local radio station, an order was issued that all non-Serbs in Prijedor mark their houses with white sheets, and upon leaving the house, display a white ribbon around their arm. This was one of the most obvious examples of a fascist regime implemented by police, military and paramilitary structures in Prijedor.

In the campaigns of ethnic cleansing, around 50,000 people were killed and expelled from Prijedor and its surroundings. Through the camps Keraterm, Omarska, Trnopolje and 54 other places of detention, around 30,000 children, women and men of Bosniak, Croat and other non-Serb nationalities endured torture in inhumane conditions. According to estimates, more than 3,000 people were killed in Prijedor.

The post-war situation in Prijedor, where the current authorities dispute the scale of the genocide that occurred, further complicates the situation and is a continuation of the policy of denial. The Prijedor authorities to this day oppose the construction of a memorial for 102 children killed in Prijedor. On the other hand, in the camps where thousands of people were mistreated and killed by the most brutal methods, the RS authorities erected a monument to the Soldiers of Republika Srpska.

The campaign to raise awareness about the events in Prijedor from 1992 to 1995 was jointly organized by the Association of Victims and Witnesses of Genocide, the Movement of Mothers of the Srebrenica and Žepa Enclaves, and the Association of Parents of Killed Children of Besieged Sarajevo.