RENEWED TERROR OVER CROATS IN SERBIA

SUBOTICA, May 18 (Hina) - Violence over ethnic Croats in Serbia and Montenegro has increased lately, the Democratic Alliance of Croats in Vojvodina said today. In past few days, over 20 tombstones along with the main cross at the Catholic cemetery in Surcin, near Belgrade, were destroyed. New sweep of terror started with the attack at the parrish church in the village of Hrtkovci, western Vojvodina, and a few days later at another Catholic church in the village of Golubinci. A demolition of a recently installed cross in the village of Bac, near Sombor, followed, and few days later a house of Mate Mataric, one of the leaders of the Democratic Alliance of Croats in Vojvodina, was burglarized, the Alliance said. A total of 40,000 Croats and over 25,000 Hungarians, left Vojvodina since 1991. The northern-Serbian province of Vojvodina became a part of Yugoslavia in 1918, after a dissolution of the Habsburg Monarchy. With a largely mixed population of Serbs, Hungarians, Slovaks, Croats and score of other groups, Vojvodina had a special autonomy in former Yugoslav Federation, until 1988 when a series of mass rallies orchestrated by Slobodan Milosevic led to its full annexation to Serbia. (Hina) mm bk 181602 MET may 95