SUBOTICA, May 5 (Hina) - The Democratic Alliance of Croats in Vojvodina (DSHV) and the Reformists of Vojvodina have issued statements recalling that 12 years ago the expulsion of Croats and non-Serb citizens began in Vojvodina on a
larger scale.
SUBOTICA, May 5 (Hina) - The Democratic Alliance of Croats in Vojvodina
(DSHV) and the Reformists of Vojvodina have issued statements
recalling that 12 years ago the expulsion of Croats and non-Serb
citizens began in Vojvodina on a larger scale.#L#
They recall that on 6 May 1992 the Chetnik leader Vojislav Seselj and
his followers held a rally in the predominantly Croat village of
Hrtkovci at which Seselj, who is now an indictee of the UN war crimes
tribunal in The Hague, read out a list of local Croats who had to
leave the village as well as of some Serbs who were also forced to
leave their homes as they opposed the persecution of their
neighbours.
This rally of Seselj's radicals in Hrtkovci is treated as the
beginning of the expulsion en masse of non-Serbs, mostly Croats from
Vojvodina. Before this incident, Croats were also forced to leave
other villages in the area, such as Slankamen and Golubinci.
In 1992 and the following years, about 10,000 local Croats were
expelled from their villages and towns.
Those who expelled non-Serbs 12 years ago, are still at large in
Vojvodina and Serbia, the Reformists said the statement on Wednesday
warning that incidents against ethnic minorities in Vojvodina recurred
recently as perpetrators from 1990s had not yet been punished.
Latest threats against non-Serbs should be seriously taken, as in this
way all began in Hrtkovci, they added.
According to a 1991 census, there were over 100,000 Croats in Serbia
and Vojvodina, and the latest census conducted in 2002 showed that
their number was reduced by some 30,000.
(Hina) ms