The Serb People's Council (SNV) said in a press release that the targets of the incidents which happened in early hours of Tuesday were homes of Serb returnees.
According to a press release issued by the police administration, the police received a call at about 02:50 a.m. that several unknown men were hurling stones at the four family houses.
The police intervened quickly and caught the three perpetrators, who had also tried to set a fire near those houses. The fire burned dry grass and low bushes in a nearby yard but it was put out thanks to the rapid reaction of firefighters.
According to the police, the damage was caused, while the Serb People's Council explained that window-shutters windowpanes of the houses in question were damaged.
The three perpetrators were drunken and one of them resisted the apprehension which was why the police had to forcibly handcuffed him. The fourth attacker was not caught on the spot, but he was subsequently identified and all of them will be taken before an investigating judge of the Zadar County Court, the police reported adding that they pressed charges against the attackers due to their violent behaviour and for having damaged others' property.
The youngest perpetrator is 23 years old, and the oldest is 44, while the other two are in their thirties.
The Serb People's Council (SNV) reported that they used abusive language shouting "Where Are You Chetniks?" and telling the returnees to go away during the incident.
Condemning this incident which it described as ethnically-motivated, the SNV Council expressed dissatisfaction with the police acting only when something happens and failing to "pre-empt" incidents, although, it added, local villagers in Biljani Donji and other residential areas informed the police about possible problems.
The Zagreb office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Tuesday issued a statement condemning what it called repeated incidents aimed against ethnic Serb returnees in Biljani Donji and Zadar County.
Such incidents must not be tolerated and the UNHCR commends the local firefighters and police for having intervened quickly and efficiently.
The UNHCR Zagreb branch added that it hoped that all the perpetrators would receive punishments in accordance with Croatian laws.
Despite the fact that such incidents are isolated and that the security situation has generally improved in areas where returnees have come back to their homes, the increasing incidence of attacks against returnees and their property in Zadar County over the recent months is a reason for concern. What is especially worrying is the fact that one returnee family has been the target of attacks for six times, the UNHCR said.
The UNHCR added that it hoped that the overall situation in the areas with returnees would not deteriorate and that the Croatian Government would intensify efforts so as to improve a climate in the areas in concern and help refugees who fled Croatia to come back to their homeland.
Croatian President Stjepan Mesic strongly condemned the incident.
Mesic said that what the perpetrators did by stoning houses of Serb returnees and setting a fire "is an attack against the declared policy of promoting coexistence and creating prerequisites for the secure and safe return of all who left Croatia during the war".
Mesic is due to talk with Serbian President Boris Tadic by phone later in the day about the incident.