Photos of 3,176 murdered Prijedor residents placed in Sarajevo's Veliki Park

SARAJEVO, (Patria) – Organized by the NGO AntiDayton, photographs of 3,176 residents of Prijedor killed during the ethnic cleansing of the 1990s, including 102 children, have been placed in Veliki Park in Sarajevo.

Volunteers distributed white ribbons to passersby, which they placed around their arms as a sign of remembrance for the victims.
 

 

White Ribbon Day, May 31, is a symbolic date proclaimed in memory of more than 3,000 killed residents of the Prijedor region. It is observed in Bosnia and Herzegovina and numerous European cities.

On that day in 1992, the 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 was the call issued via Radio Prijedor on May 31, 1992:

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

International White Ribbon Day in Prijedor is marked by a peaceful walk through the streets of Prijedor.

According to data from the Association "Prijedor '92", 3,176 residents of Prijedor who were killed or went missing during the war have been registered so far, mostly civilians, predominantly Bosniaks, then Croats, while Roma, Albanians, and some Serbs were also killed. Among the victims were 256 women and 102 children.