The recent attack on police officers in Potocari, during the time of threats against the cemetery, happened outside the premises of the Memorial Center and was directed at the regular patrol, stated the police.
Several media outlets have reported statements from the Vice President of Republika Srpska (RS), Camil Durakovic, regarding the attack on police officers in Potocari on May 5th, making it seem as if this attack was related to the area of the Memorial Center at a time when pro-government media in RS were announcing an attack on the cemetery. However, the attack was initially directed at police officers during regular patrol, as claimed by the entity’s Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The man who attacked the police officer was intoxicated and was stopped during a routine check, and he was only aided by the employees of the agency guarding the Memorial Center, according to the police.
This attack occurred two days after some media in RS published articles about an alleged plan by Bosniak organizations to damage graves in Potocari and blame Serbs for it. These media reports were based on an anonymous security source, after which the Ministry of Internal Affairs of RS and the Directorate for Coordination of Police Bodies of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), whose employees guard the premises of the Memorial Center, increased measures and controls in Potocari.
Easter passed without incidents, and agencies later announced that the information was false. On the night of May 5th, a man from Serbia was arrested in Potocari in Srebrenica for attacking police officers, the Police Administration Zvornik confirmed.
“The person who was stopped, whether in a conscious or intoxicated state, began cursing the police officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of RS. Since the Directorate is responsible for protecting the Memorial Center, they heard the commotion, and when you hear a commotion at 11-12 p.m., then something is suspicious. They went to their colleagues from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of RS to see what was happening. Here we are talking about two Bosniaks who approached two police officers who are officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of RS. In the altercation with one individual, one officer from the Directorate, there was a physical attack on the official. Only then did the Ministry of Internal Affairs of RS and the Directorate apprehend the individual. It is a person of Serbian nationality originally from Srebrenica, who currently lives in Belgrade, who threatened ‘I will kill you all’ right next to the Memorial Center, the police know,” said Durakovic.
Numerous media outlets in BiH have reported Durakovic’s statement, emphasizing in the headlines that a man who attacked a police officer in Potocari was arrested and that he threatened with the words “I will kill you all”, Detektor reports.
E.Dz.
