34 YEARS MARKED SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THE PERSECUTION AND SUFFERING OF SERBS

BROD, MAY 17 /SRNA/ - The Serb population from the municipality of Brod today marked 34 years since their expulsion from their homes during an attack by Croatian armed forces and members of paramilitary Muslim-Croatian units.

The Mayor of Brod, Milan Zečević, said that the traditional march to Lipa was organized again this year, explaining that it follows a 10-kilometer route along which residents of Brod left their homes after the aggression of March 1992. "There is a large number of students this year, despite the bad weather. We also see a large number of young people. This means that we are successfully managing to pass on to our youngest the importance of this place, and the importance of remembrance and preserving our history,” Zečević told reporters. On this occasion, the event “Days of the Vučijak Brigade” was also held, and Zečević recalled the suffering of Serb fighters for the freedom of the Serb people. The president of the Presidency of the Veterans’ Organization of Brod, Zoran Vidić, recalled that in 1992, the entire Serb population from the municipality of Brod was expelled from their homes, and that they are now trying to preserve the memory of those events in this way. “For the past 11 years, we have also been organizing the march to Lipa. We walk 10 kilometers, while marathon runners and cyclists cover 22 kilometers. We see many young people here today, which makes us especially happy, and I hope we will pass on the true events of 1992 to the younger generation,” Vidić said. As part of the event “Days of the Vučijak Brigade” and on the occasion of the patron saint’s day of the Church of Saint Jovan Vladimir in Lipa, a liturgy and memorial service for the fallen fighters of Vučijak were held. During the march to Lipa, flowers were laid at the sites where Serb fighters were killed, as well as at the monuments dedicated to fallen fighters in Gornji Klakar and Gornja Vrela.