Action! Masked Activists Remove Slovenian Wire Fence on Croatian Border

Activist activity on the Croatian border with Slovenia against the hated wire fence. 

They look like your neighbours, ordinary people and students who in no way seem different. But, only during the day. When night comes, they dress in black, pull balaclavas over their heads with slits for the eyes and put gloves on their hands. They take scissors for wires and go into the night, towards the Slovenian border. With a bit of luck, they return with a thick roll of razor-wire fence and publish the photos of their trophies on the Facebook page of a group which brings together anonymous wire cutters. The initiative started in Croatia, in Istria, and soon spread throughout the whole Croatian border area. After one of the raids in Hrvatsko Zagorje, the idea crossed the border, reports Jutarnji List on December 31, 2015.

Protesters on both sides of the border started peacefully, decorating the razor fence with Christmas ornaments, playing volleyball over it, hanging banners with various messages. Slovenian composer Matija Krečič even performed a “Christmas Morning” concert next to the fence in Bela Krajina region with three violins and a cello, but all these ideas had little effect. However, then a guerrilla initiative was started. As soon as the fence appeared near Matulji, local residents started cutting it and posting photos of souvenirs.

A team which recently started doing similar raids near Zagreb includes a member of the Workers’ Front, a radical left-wing organization which campaigns against the “dictatorship of capitalism and party oligarchies”. He recommends that anyone who wishes to participate in the raids should find a field with stretched wire fence, and go there at night in a group of three people, “with two cutting and one driving”.

“After fifteen minutes, the driver picks up those who were doing the cutting. The wire is very dangerous, so you have to use those thick heavy-duty gloves. But, at least the wire will not be able to hurt anyone else or prevent somebody’s movements”, says the anonymous razor-wire cutter on the Facebook page which brings together supporters with a slogan: “Let’s cut the wire! The initiative for the self-organized removal of wires on the borders which divide people, kill animals and take us back to the Dark Ages of European history.”

In an interview with a Slovenian newspaper, one Croatian activist, who during just one night removed 30 metres of razor fence, said that the material must not be left behind because it is still dangerous. They plan to recycle it and pay the money back into the Slovenian budget. His motives are simple: he recalls how as a boy he played and swam in the river Sutla, how people socialized together on the border. Now it seems like they all live in a kind of a concentration camp.

Slovenian activists wrote an ironic manifesto titled “Croats – Brothers During a Day, Thieves at Night”. They “complained” that the wire paid by all Slovenian citizens is being stolen by their southern neighbours. “We invite all of you to go to the border, where we will say ‘no’ to Croats who steal out fence. Instead, we should cut it ourselves”, the message reads.

 

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