ZAGREB, August 24, 2019 – The Croatian police are conducting extensive investigations into the 21 August incidents in cafes in the village of Đevrske and in the village of Uzdolje near Knin, and considering the Đevirske case, misdemeanour charges have been filed against five people and one person is charged with a criminal offence, Interior Minister Davor Božinović said on Saturday, expressing hope that the Uzdolje investigation will also result in the detection of the perpetrators.
The police are investigating the incidents which happened this past Wednesday when guests, including a 9-year-boy, and the owner of Uzdolje cafe were beaten, while in the Đevrske cafe they were exposed to verbal attacks while they were watching a TV broadcast of the football match of the Belgrade-based Crvena Zvezda club.
“The assaults should be condemned just as any violence should be condemned. The state institutions, notably those whose responsibility is to ensure peace and order are supposed to act promptly and efficiently. The police have shown that they act efficiently and they will be efficient in the future, too,” the minister said after a commemorative ceremony in the village of Žuta Lokva where the tribute was paid to the four Croatian policemen who were killed in that Lika village at the start of the Croatian Homeland War in 1991. The four policemen, who were patrolling road traffic, were killed and one traffic officer was wounded in an artillery attack launched by local Serb paramilitary and rebel forces on 24 August 1991.
The minister confirmed that a suspect was arrested on Saturday morning in connection with the case in Viskovo, Rijeka, where a local inhabitant, 70, told media that he had been beaten and injured in an incident based on his ethnicity. The incident happened two days ago.
More news about the Knin incidents can be found in the Politics section.
