SIBENIK-KNIN COUNTY POLICE ON FIRE IN MEDIEVAL ORTHODOX CHURCH

SIBENIK/ZAGREB, June 3 (Hina) - The Sibenik-Knin County police administration on Thursday reported a fire broke out on June 1 in St. Luke's, an Orthodox church in Mokro Polje, a village near Knin. The police received a report on a fire at 05.20pm on June 1; firemen and a police patrol from Knin were immediately sent from Knin. The fire was put out at 06.55pm. The Serb People's Council (SNV) on Thursday issued a statement on the matter. "According to first reports, (the fire) had obviously been set by an unknown party," the statement said, adding the fire "had caused huge damage." SNV secretary Jovan Vejnovic told Hina over the phone the claims made in the statement were based on witnesses' accounts. The SNV did not want to speculate who the perpetrator of the "vile act" was, but believes it had been an attempt to scare people who had returned to their pre-war homes in the area and to dissuade those intending to return. "Vandalism of this sort can produce only hatred and return us to the past, and certainly not open the way to a civilised and European future," the SNV statement said. The St. Luke's Orthodox church was erected around 1530. For a long period of time it kept the Mokro Polje Gospel from the 15th century. (hina) ha jn